MAORIES. 365 



deeply, lie also loves truly ; if his revenge never dies, his 

 fidelity and loyalty are strong and enduring. Thakombau 

 was a thorough Feegeean. Almost to the last he opposed 

 the missionaries. He was not only heathen, but anti- 

 christian. At length being converted, he called his people 

 together, and, says Mr. Calvert, "What a congregation he 

 had ! husbands, whose wives he had dishonoured ! widows, 

 whose husbands he had slain ! sisters, whose relatives had 

 been strangled by his orders ! relatives, whose friends he 

 had eaten ! and children, the descendants of those he had 

 murdered, and who had vowed to avenge the wrongs inflicted 

 on their fathers I"* Yet even this man an adulterer, a 

 parricide, and a cannibal ; whose hands were stained with a 

 hundred murders had still something noble and loveable 

 about him; so much so indeed that, in spite of his crimes, 

 he secured the affection, the friendship, even the respect, of 

 a man so excellent as Mr. Calvert. 



The Maories. 



The New Zealanders are the most southernly representatives 

 of the great Polynesian family. Their principal food consisted 

 of fern roots, which they scorched over the fire, and then 

 beat with a stick, till the bark and dry outside fell off; the 

 remainder being a soft substance, rather clammy and sweet, 

 not unpleasant to the taste, but mixed with numerous stringy 

 fibres which are very disagreeable, f In the northern dis- 

 tricts were large plantations of yams and sweet potatoes. 

 They also cultivated gourds, which were used for vessels, as 

 they had no pottery. Their only instrument for tillage was 

 " a long narrow stake sharpened to an edge at ona end, with 

 a short piece fastened transversely at a little distance above 



* Figi and the Figians, I.e. vol. ii., f Dieffenbach's New Zealand, vol. 

 p. 357. ii., p. 11. 



