CoLENSO. — On the 3Iaori Baces of New Zealand. 375 



unheard of elsewhere. To a New Zealauder gratitude was wholly unknown. 

 They have no word for it in their language ; no way of expressing such a 

 feeling, which never existed in their breast. To a deeply reflecting mind, 

 this sad fact may appear to be a far worse one than their cannibalism. There 

 can be little doubt but that their total want of this high feeling of the soul 

 arose from their own peculiar natural condition ; particularly from the fact 

 that no New Zealander ever did any kindness or gave anyfhing to another 

 without mainly having an eye to himself in the transaction ; and this was 

 known and reciprocated. Of all their characteristic vices, this of ingratitude 

 appears to be one of the worst. Our immortal bard might well truthfully 

 and feelingly say, — 



" Freeze, freeze, tliou bitter sky j 

 Thou dost not bite so nigb 



As benefits forgot ; 

 Though thou the waters warp. 

 The sting is not so sharp 



As friends remember'd not." 



30. From what is gloomy and repulsive in their character, let us now 

 turn to what is pleasing, and what perhaps, by some, has been hastily 

 set down as wanting — their love of cesthetics or the beautiful. This, it is 

 believed, will be clearly seen, if we keep hold of the fine clue, and pursue it 

 steadily through all its entanglements and ramifications to the end. They 

 generally sought a clear open site for their villages, so as to command a good 

 view ; a fine open prospect from a village being loudly praised by 

 strangers, while a cramped or bad one was denounced. They did all 

 they could to keep their villages both clean and tidy. Each village had 

 its common privy, generally in some secluded spot. Their houses were 

 often neatly kept, all their little articles hung up or stowed away in 

 baskets in their proper places. Their fishing residences, and huts near 

 their cultivations, and forest huts where they sometimes dwelt (for a 

 chief had generally five or six residences), were usually beautifully placed 

 and snugly ensconced under shady trees, and by the side of a murmuring 

 brook ; they rarely ever wantonly cut down evergreen shrubs or old 

 shady trees growing near them for the sake of their wood for timber or 

 firing, choosing rather to fetch the same from a long distance. They liked 

 to hear the birds warbling, and they often planted the red parrot's-bill 

 acacia (Jcoivhai-ngutitlcaaJcaa) and the ornamental variety of striped-leaved flax 

 about their houses, on account of their beauty. They sought largely after 

 the beautiful in their making of clothing mats, as is seen in their handsome 

 coloured borders, in their many ornamental strings and tassels of various 

 dyes, in their cutting up their dogskins into narrow strips and then sewing 

 them together, so as to have the greater effect from shade and colour, and in 



