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with chisels and axes of stone, and that in order to obtain a single 
board a whole log had to be worked off. They were in the habit 
of tattooing their faces and bodies. The villages were protected 
by ditches and palisades and surrounded by extensive plantations, 
on which sweet potatoes, taro, and melons were cultivated. Be- 
sides agriculture, fishing and hunting were the chief occupation of 
the people, by which they made their living. Fishes, molluscs, 
birds , rats , dogs , seals , fern-roots (Pteris esculenta ) , and wood- 
berries , besides the produce of the fields , were the staple articles 
of life. The Maoris were exceedingly well skilled in preparing the 
fibre of the fiaxplant (Phormium tenax ) peculiar to tlieir country, 
and in plaiting and weaving mats and garments out of it. Kai- 
taka, Korowai , Wakawae, Kotikoti etc. , are names of the different 
mats made out of flax. For dyeing the flax they used various 
kinds of bark and roots, and as ornament the feathers of sea- and 
land-birds. From dog-skins rvere manufactured also cloaks of a 
high value. The natives had no written language; but the num- 
erous legends , fables , songs and proverbs of the people were trans- 
mitted by oral tradition from generation to generation. They knew 
precisely every plant, bird, insect of the country they inhabited, 
and knew how to designate them by special names ; and even the 
various kinds of rock they distinguished with a keen talent of ob- 
servation. 
The religious belief of the New Zealanders was that which 
belongs to the infancy of a race. Their religion was a kind of 
polytheism, a worship of elementary spirits and deified ancestors; 
yet without idols and temples. They believed in a future state 
of existence, and that there was a spirit within their bodies, which 
never died. 
They were divided into a great number of separate tribes, 
which were ruled by families of chiefs after a patriarchal system. 
Moreover there existed closely defined classes in six ranks, from 
that of the first priest and chief down to the slave. The chiefs 
lived in polygamy. The property was common to the whole 
tribe. But the several tribes were engaged in continual feuds with 
