CoLENSO. — On ilie Maori Races of New Zealand. 369 



were spawning and in tlieir prime. If at sea, out of sight of land, or in a 

 strange trackless country or forest, they shaped their course by the stars and 

 by the sun. The diurnal ebbing and 'flowing of the tide they w^ell knew, 

 although they attributed it to the constant inhalation and exhalation of a 

 certain monstrous being living in the sea in deep water, named Te Parata. 

 They noticed the natural affinities of plants ; hence the two Solamtms {S. 

 aviculare and S. nigrum), though widely differing in appearance, were both 

 named ;)oro^oro ; the two large pea-flowered plants (one a hard-wooded tree, 

 the yellow Edivardsia grandijlora, and the other an herbaceous shrub, the 

 red OliantJms pimiceus), were respectively called Tiowhai and koivhai-ngutu- 

 haakaa {Jcoiohai and parrot's-bill kowhai) ; the black and the red birches 

 (Fagusfusca and F. solandri), though greatly unlike in leafing, bark, &c., 

 they appropriately knew as taivhairauiti and tawhairaunui (large-leaved and 

 small-leaved tawhai) ; as also with the two species of olive (Olea cunning- 

 hamii and 0. montana), with the two species of flax (Phormium), and with 

 several others. They not only well knew the difference between their 

 common fern-trees, giving them proper distinctive names ; but another and 

 scarce one, DicJcsonia antarctica, they distinguished by the name of welciponga, 

 because it possesses characters in common with two of the commoner ones, 

 severally called by them loeki and ponga. It is also evident, from their 

 proper names and descriptive remarks, that long before Linnseus's age they 

 knew something of the sexes of the plants ; they had noticed, if there was 

 little or no pollen discharged in the summer from the male catkins (amentcd\ 

 of the taxaceous trees (and which the writer has sometimes seen escape 

 in clouds) there would be no fruit that year for them, and their favourite 

 pigeons would not be fat ; and they were well acquainted with certain 

 curious natural facts, such as the cuckoo (Ghrgsococcgx lucidus) laying her 

 eggs in the nest of the little riroriro (Miro toitoi) ; the eel having two holes 

 to its lurking place in the mud ; the sea migration of the lamprey ; and the 

 various metamorphoses of insects. 



(2.) That powerful moral faculty, conscience, often showed itself 

 strongly; so did its close attendant shame — "that lurks behind ;" although, 

 from custom, the New Zealanders often exhibited much more shame at little 

 failings and mistakes than at great sins. They had a large share of fidelity 

 and attachment ; hence the slaves and lower classes were attached to their 

 masters and lords ; and hence, too, they frequently left their homes and 

 tribes to live with and work for strangers, to whom they had become attached ; 

 and their women generally made good and faithful wives to the early 

 European settlers and whalers. Their filial attachment, however, was very 

 slight. They were often very patient, and could exercise well and for a 

 long time the virtues of endurance, especially if they had any object in view. 

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