586 



SPIRITS — NOAH WINE. 



Dec. 



owners, or as many as can come ; a few absentees, of little con- 

 sequence, not being thought about. The goods intended to be 

 given, as an equivalent for the land, are then spread out for 

 inspection ; and if the contracting parties agree, their word is 

 given, and their marks are perhaps put to a deed which they 

 cannot read,* but whose purport they are told. The goods 

 are forthwith carried away ; each man appropriates what he 

 chooses, and it often happens that the chief men of the tribe 

 receive the smallest portion of the purchase goods. 



One, among many objections alleged against the purchase 

 of land, said to have been made by de Thierry, was, that he 

 could not have bought land in New Zealand, while absent, 

 because, in order to make a purchase valid, it is necessary 

 to buy from the tribe, not from individuals. 



Mr. Stokes was informed that when a tribe is utterly van- 

 quished, the conqueror generously gives the survivors a grant 

 of land, and even slaves. I do not see how to reconcile this 

 act of generosity with the blood-thirsty warfare which has 

 usually ended in indiscriminate slaughter, and cannibal feasts. 



Satisfied, for the time, on the principal subject : — the much 

 desired abolition of the use and importation of ardent spirits, 

 was discussed. An old man, named ' Noah,' spoke to the 

 tribe ; and after alluding to the disgraceful and unfortunate 

 events, caused by drinking, which had happened to their 

 friends, and to neighbouring tribes, since the white men had 

 introduced the vice of intoxication, old Noah ended a short 

 but eloquent harangue, by saying, " expel the liquid fire."" 

 Noah is a Christian : his name was his own choice, when bap- 

 tized, some years ago. The principid men, eight in number, 

 signed, or made marks upon the paper, which contained the 

 resolutions agreed to by acclamation. Noah wrote his name 

 in a distinct hand : each of the others made marks resem- 

 bling a small part of the tattowed lines upon their faces. 

 One man imitated the mark upon the side of his nose ; ano- 

 ther that near his eye. Baked potatoes were afterwards 

 brought to us; and a curious wine, of which I had not 

 * A few natives can now read and write. 



