146 Travsactions. — Miscellaneous, 



kind, patched iu compartments with dog-skin. '•'■ * * Among their 

 dresses were several cloaks entirely lined with dog-skin, upon which they 

 set a high value, and which indeed gave them a very comfortable appear- 

 ance m the cold weather that now began to be felt." And six months after, 

 on their return to New Zealand from the Society and other islands, having 

 made Cape Kidnappers and passed it, and when near to Black Head, their 

 ship was visited and boarded by a chief * from the shore in his canoe ; to 

 him Captain Cook gave some pigs, fowls, and garden seeds ; and the chief, 

 in return, gave to Captain Cook "his maipi, or battle- axe, f which was 

 perfectly new, its head well carved, and ornamented wdth red parrot's 

 feathers and white dog's hair." 



J. E. Forster, in his "Observations," also observes: — "The New 

 Zealanders employ the skins of dogs for their clothes, but merely for 

 convenience, namely, to keep them warm. They also make use of their 

 hak in various ornaments, especially to fringe their breast-plates in the 

 Society Isles, and to face or even line the whole garment at New Zealand."]; 



It appears, therefore, from the united testimony of the first visitors to 

 this country that the ancient New Zealand dog was much like those of 

 Tahiti and other South Sea isles — that it was merely ft domestic animal, 

 small in size, Avith pointed nose, prick ears, and very little eyes ; that it 

 was dull, stupid, and ugly ; that it was of various colours, white, black, 

 brown, and parti-coloured, with lank long hair, and a short bushy tail ; that 

 it was fed on fish and refuse offal, and that it was quiet, lazy, and sullen, had 

 little or no scent, and had no proper bark. Further, that its flesh was used 

 by the New Zealanders for food, its skin for clothing, and its hair 

 (particularly the long white hair of the tail) for ornamental purposes. 

 And Captain Cook incidentally remarks on the great attachment of the New 

 Zealanders to their dogs ; for, in speaking of a native chief whom he had 

 known, a father giving him his son to go away with him in his ship, he 

 says: — "When about to sail, a boy of about ten years of age, named 

 Kokoa, was presented to me by his own father, who I believe would have 

 parted with, his dog with far less indifference." § 



It seems certain that the variety of dog found by them in New Zealand 



* This chief, of whom a portrait is given in Cook's Voyages, I have ascertained to be 

 Tuanui, the ancestor of the present Henare Matua, of Porangahau, so well known among 

 us. Tuanui put off from Poureerere, and Cook's gifts to him were well remembered and 

 circumstantially related. From some of those " garden seeds " sprang the " Maori 

 cabbage " of the coast, which, thirty years ago, grew very thickly there and on to 

 Palliser Bay, and often served me, when travelling, for breakfast. 



t Much like that one of mine, mentioned above, p. 135. 



J Observations, pp. 189, 208. 



S G. Forster also remarks on it, ante. 



