460 , TransactioTis. — Miscellaneous. 



in 1881. .The existence of 22 double canoes and 8 canoes in any one spot, 

 is sufficient evidence of a large population. When Cook visited this place 

 in about 1769, he saw very few boats. Dr. Forster in Cook's Second 

 Voyage guessed the number of the Maoris at 100,000, " although," as 

 Colenso says, " he never saw any of the populous parts of the North Island." 

 Colenso quotes other estimates : Nicholas, in 1814, thought there were 

 150,000. Colenso thinks Forster's estimate far too low, because Forster 

 only saw the sea coast, not going inland, and saw none on the whole xvest 

 coast of the North Island, and therefore thought it uninhabited. 



Amongst other authorities, I find that Cook, on one occasion, wrote 

 there were 400,000 Maoris. In 1824, Major Cruise says there were nearly 

 3,000 present at a meeting at the Bay of Islands, and at another time a 

 " vast number" of canoes. It would now be impossible to find anything 

 like that number of people or canoes. The Eev. W. Williams, in 1835, 

 estimated their numbers as not exceeding 200,000, and divides them thus: — 



Northern part . . . . 4,000 Thames 4,800 



Hokianga . . . . 6,000 Bay of Plenty . . . . 15,600 



Waikato . . . . 18,000 East Coast, to Hawke's 



Kapiti, and northern Bay . . . . . . 27,000 



shores of Cook Strait 18,000 

 Major Druse, writing in 1819, or a year or two previously, says that at 

 one place he saw 50 canoes, each armed by fifty or sixty fighting men — at 

 least 2,500 fighting men. Where now should we find such a concourse ? 

 Te Whiti, in 1881, at his greatest gatherings, could muster somewhat less 

 than 1,000 fighting men. In about 1835, the numbers of the Maoris were 

 estimated at 120,000, and in 1840 at 114,000. Governor Grey's figures in 

 1849 are 120,000, and Mr. McLean's in 1853 are 60,000. McKay asserts 

 that from about 1820, the date of introduction of the musket, to close of Te 

 Eauparaha's wars, in about 1840, no less than 60,000 perished. Colenso, 

 Taylor, and others, have made similar statements, all showing the existence 

 of a dense population. The numerous remains of old hill-forts show a 

 former large population (see " Old New Zealand"). In places in the Auck- 

 land Province, and between Hawera and Patea, these ruins are existing in 

 great abundance ; now, scarcely any natives are to be found there. Terry, 

 writing in about 1842, says that Williams very much underrated them, and 

 based his estimates very largely on the tribes connected with the Church 

 Missionary Society. Terry says there were 150,000 in the North Island 

 alone. Another writer, in 1840, guesses the number at 80,000. This is 

 the lowest estimate of early date that I have been able to find, and even this 

 lowest makes their numbers double those now living. Colenso says that the 

 missionaries knew, on excellent data, that in 1834 there were 7,000 fighting 

 men from the Bay of Islands northward ; that number has dwindled to less 



