CoLENSO. — Notes on tlie ancient Dog of the New Zealancters. 147 



was considered to be greatly inferior to tliose of tlie same breed they bad seen 

 in the other isles of the South Sea. It is not at all unlikely that this 

 variety bad degenerated through successive breeding-in-and-in," and want 

 of proper food. And it does not seem to have been eaten by our early 

 voyagers, as the dogs of the other islands were, although, for want of fresh 

 provisions, they scrupled not to eat rats and other " small gear." It is true 

 that we have in their journals especial mention of four dogs having been 

 killed for food at different times on board of their sbi^D after leaving New 

 Zealand; but all these it seems were obtained from other places. The dog 

 on which the officers made such a feast when near the Traps off the South 

 Cape of New Zealand, during their first voyage, and shortly after leaving 

 this country, had been "bred on board." The dog which was killed on 

 board for food in June, 1773, during their second voyage and soon after 

 their leaving Cook Straits for Tahiti, was of the "Dutch" breed; f and 

 very likely brought with them from the Cape of Good Hope. Again, after 

 leaving New Zealand the third time on discovery, the dog which was killed 

 on board when near Easter Island, to save Captain Cook's life, was an old 

 ship dog, of which circumstance Captain Cook himself says, — " I was now 

 taken violently ill so as to be confined to my bed, and it was several days 

 before the most dangerous symptoms of my disorder were removed. * * 

 When I began to recover, a favourite dog of Mr. Forster fell a sacrifice to 

 my tender stomach. We had no other fresh meat whatever on board ; and 

 I could eat of this flesh, as well as broth made of it, when I could taste 

 nothing else. Thus I received nourishment and strength from food which 

 would have made most people in Europe sick, so true it is that necessity is 

 governed by no law." And about a month after, when on their run fr-om 

 Easter Island to the Marquesas, another dog, which was also killed on 

 board under similar circum.stances, was from the Friendly Islands the year 

 before. Of this dog G. Forster writes : — " Captain Cook himself was obliged 



* Note. — To a superficial observer such must have been much the same in the 

 tropical islands, but there is this great difference, viz., the New Zealanders were, from 

 the earliest times, split up into small tribes, who were ever at deadly enmity ; hence the 

 chcle of breeding a strictly domestic animal must have been very contracted and limited ; 

 it was not so in the islands, which were under kingly rule. 



t For this I am indebted to Dr, Sparrman, whose entry in his Journal is so highly 

 characteristic, that I copy it. He says, — " On the 7th June we sailed from New Zealand. 

 * * * After we had been at sea a few days we resolved upon killing a fat, though ugly 

 Dutch dog, before the scurvy, together with the short commons of the shijD, should render 

 his flesh unfit for eating. Already used in our run between the Cape and New Zealand 

 to put up with sheep that had died of the scurvy or other disorders, diseased hens and 

 geese, we certainly were not now in a condition to turn up our noses at a roasted dog, 

 which was really very palatable and well tasted." Sparrman's Voyage, 4to., London, 

 1786, p. 88. 



