CoLENSO. — On a better Knowledge of the Maori Race. 61 



shaped, and something hke a short thick tongaie, some being a httle curved. 

 Tliey were made of hard wood, scraped, pohbhed, and profusely carved, and 

 inlaid with mother-of-pearl ; these, also, were worn by the chiefs, hung to 

 their necks. Parkinson (Sir Joseph Banks' draughtsman) has given a 

 drawing of one in plate 26 of his interesting " Journal," figure 24 ; — in 

 describing it he says, — " A whistle made of wood having the outside curi- 

 ously carved ; besides the mouth-hole they have several for the fingers to 

 play upon. These, which are worn about the neck, are 3-| inches in length, 

 and yield a shrill sound." I suspect that these, like their trumpets, were 

 not used for obtaining any proper tune, but only for the purpose of making 

 a loud call, — as from a chief to his followers. 



Captain Cook, in his first voyage, when on this subject, briefly says, — 

 " They have sonorous instruments, but they can scarcely be called instru- 

 ments of music ; one is the shell, called the Triton's trumpet, with which 

 they make a noise not unlike that which our boys sometimes make with a 

 cow's horn : the other is a small wooden pipe, resembling a child's nine- 

 pin, only much smaller, and in this there is no more music than in a pea- 

 whistle." — (Vol. III., p. 468.) Either Cook, then, had not seen them all, or 

 Dr. Hawksworth, in compiling that history of the Jirst voyage, had over- 

 looked it ; — I think this latter the more probable. 



Forster, who accompanied Cook in his second voyage remarks, — " They 

 also brought some musical instruments, among which was a trumpet, or 

 tube, of wood, about four feet long, and pretty straight; its small mouth 

 was not above two inches, and the other not above five inches in di- 

 ameter ; it made a very uncouth kind of braying, for they always sounded 

 the same note, though a performer on the French horn might perhaps be 

 able to bring some better music out of it. Another trumpet was made of a 

 large whellf (Murex tritonis) mounted with wood curiously carved, and 

 pierced at the point where the mouth was a^jplied ; a hideous bellowing was 

 all the sound that could be produced out of this instrument. The third 

 went by the name of a flute among our people, and was a hollow tube, 

 widest about the middle, where it had a large opening, as well as another at 

 each end. This and the first trumpet were both made of two hollow semi- 

 cyHuders of wood, exactly fitted and moulded together, so as to form a 

 perfect tube." — (Forster's Voyage, Vol. I., p. 227.) 1 think Forster could 

 not have seen their small flute (which is a very differently-formed instru- 

 ment, and without " a large opening in the middle "), on which alone they 

 played their plaintive airs; — at all events, such is not included in the above. 



Second, we have the proof recorded by competent early visitors, of the 

 abilities of the New Zealanders in playing tunes on then* flutes ; which they 

 could only have attained to through long and persevering practice. And 



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