6 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



that people possessed both metals and beasts of burden. All Eastern 

 nations, fi-om then- earliest annals, were ever famed for theh' attachment to 

 the cultivation of the soil. The Egyptians and the Phoenicians, the little 

 nation of the Jews, the Persians,''' and the Chinese, — and afterwards (and 

 from them) the Greeks and the Eomans, not only supported and patronized 

 it, and wrote hooks in praise of it,i but actually followed it themselves, each 

 noble labouring on his respective farm, much as the Maori chiefs themselves 

 did. 



And this national custom long-continued (as I have already mentioned) 

 was, in my opinion, the reason why the New Zealander also excelled in so 

 many of the arts practised by him — agriculture being, in its primitive and 

 rudest form, the first step in civihzation ; and this industry once practised 

 and liked is sure to improve, and to lead on gradually to its own rich 

 development. Xenophon has truly remarked that " Agriculture is the 

 nursing- mother of the Arts ; for where Agriculture succeeds prosperously 

 there the Arts thrive ; but where the earth necessarily lies uncultivated, 

 there the other Arts are destroyed." (QLconomics.) And a learned modern 

 writer (Dr. Kalisch) has judiciously observed, in remarking on the early 

 agriculture of the world, — " It is a deep trait in the Biblical account to 

 ascribe the origin of cities to none but the agriculturist. Unlike the nomad, 

 who changes his temporary tents whenever the state of the pasture requires 

 it, the husbandman is bound to the glebe which he cultivates ; the soil to 

 which he devotes his strength and his anxieties becomes dear to him ; and 

 that part of the earth to which he owes his sustenance assumes a character 

 of holiness in his eyes,| — he fixes there his permanent abode, and considers 

 its loss a curse of God. Thus the agriculturist was compelled to build 

 houses and to form a town. Many inventions of mechanical skill are 

 inseparable from the building of towns ; ingenuity was aroused and exer- 

 cised ; and whilst engaged in satisfying the moral desire of sociability, man 



* It is related of the ancient Persians, " that their kings laid aside their grandeur 

 once a month to eat with husbandmen ; " this is a striking instance of the high estimation 

 in which they held agriculture ; for at that time the fine arts were practised among that 

 people to great perfection. The precepts of the religion taught by their ancient magi, or 

 priests, included the practice of agriculture. The saint among them was obliged to work 

 out his salvation by pursuing all the labours of agriculture ; and it was a maxim of the 

 Zendavesta, — that " he who cultivates the ground with care and diligence, acquires a 

 greater degree of religious merit than he could have gained by the repetition of 10,000 

 prayers." I would that such a doctrine were believed in now-a-days ! 



t Among the Greeks, Hesiod in " Works and Days," and Xenophsn in " CEconomics," 

 and among the Eomans, Cato, and Varro. and Virgil in his " Georgics." 



+ See the Maori proverb, No. 22, p. 118, " Trans. N.Z, Inst.," Vol. XII. 



