each other, generating an uncommonly warlike national spirit. Brav- 
ery and cunning, command of temper, revenging injuries and here- 
ditary feuds, suffering torture without complaint were considered 
the principal qualities of chiefs virtue. 
The education of the youth reminds us of Spartan discipline. 
The boy belonged to the tribe rather than to the father. Corporal 
punishment was of rare occurrence. The boy was not to become 
cowardly and submissive , but brave and. independent. The youth 
grew up amid games , dances and wrestling. Boys had to learn 
the art of catching birds by creeping up to them, of angling fish, 
of setting traps and snares for rats. The son of the chief had to 
learn the traditions , laws and rites of the people ; he had to be 
orator and poet , statesman and warrior, farmer and seaman, hunter 
and fisherman, — all in one person, if he wished to occupy in 
future years a position suited to his rank, and to do honour to 
his name. 
Only one gloomy feature spread over the life of that people, 
casting into shadow all the other bright sides; it was cannibalism. 
At the time of the discovery of New Zealand by Europeans it 
was more prevalent there than anywhere else, so that the Maoris, 
especially when even Europeans became their victims, were con- 
sidered the real type of cannibals. And yet , this was not 
always the case. From the traditions of the people it appears, 
that cannibalism did not exist upon New Zealand till long after 
the immigration of the Maoris , and it almost seems , as though at 
the very time of the discovery of New Zealand the anthropophagism 
had reached its maximum. 1 But its origin is as mysterious , as all 
the former history of the people. In speculating on the origin of 
cannibalism in New Zealand, it is requisite to remember that by 
the increasing population on the islands the resources of animal 
1 The chiefs of the Bay of Islands answered the missionaries, as these were 
lamenting about the monstrous custom of man-eating: “Large fishes eat up the small 
ones; dogs eat men; men dogs; dogs each other; birds each other; one God an- 
other.” The women, however, were allowed the luxury of human flesh only in 
exceptional cases. 
