MAORI ABORIGINAL MANUFACTURES. 503 
bited by George Donne, Marlborough. They consisted of Maori toma- 
hawks of stone, and rusted bayonets dug up recently at Massacre Hill, 
Wairau, Marlborough, and are most probably mementos of the terrible 
massacre of Captain Wakefield and his party in 1842. This affray arose 
out of a disputed land sale of the Wairau plains. The surveyors were 
at work on the plain, when the celebrated chief Rauparaha crossed 
Cook's Straits with an armed band, burnt down their huts and drove 
them off. They carried the news to Nelson, and the magistrate issued a 
warrant for the apprehension of Rauparaha on a charge of arson. The 
magistrate with Captain Arthur Wakefield, three other gentlemen and 
some special constables, went to execute the warrant. A collision 
ensued, and six and twenty men were slain. The Queen's Magistrate 
and Captain Wakefield were murdered in cold blood after the affair 
was over. 
Fiji Islands. — Several exhibitors forwarded a variety of interest- 
ing articles from the Fiji Islands, concerning which some remarks are 
necessary. The inhabitants of the Fiji Islands possess many habits and 
customs almost identical with those of the Maoris ; but the different 
conditions of climate and mode of life, coupled with the difference in 
the natural productions of the country, have led to a considerable 
diversity in their arts and manufactures. The Fijians, judging from 
their tools, weapons, and clothing, are but little behind the New 
Zealanders in skill, whilst in some respects they are in advance of them 
— in the art of pottery for instance. The various objects from these 
islands which found a place in the New Zealand .Exhibition, are not the 
less interesting because they are illustrations of the existing habits and 
customs of the Fijians. 
Begining with the article of clothing, we find many beautiful speci- 
mens of cloth called "tapa," made by macerating and beating out the 
bark of the paper mulberry. The following interesting description of 
the materials used for clothing by the Fijians is taken from the most 
recent work on the Fiji Islands, A Mission to Viti, by Dr. Seemann : — 
" Materials for the scanty clothing worn by the Fijians are readily 
supplied by a variety of plants, foremost amongst which stands the Malo 
or Paper Mulbery (Broussonetia papyri/era, Vent.), a middle-sized tree, 
with rough trilobed leaves, cultivated all over Fiji. On the coast, the 
native cloth (Tapa) and plaitings are gradually displaced by cheap cotton 
prints, a fathom of which is considered enough for the entire dress of a 
man. In the inland heathen districts the boys are allowed to run naked 
until they have attained the age of puberty, and publicly assumed what 
may be termed the toga virilis — a narrow strip of native cloth (Malo*) 
passing between their legs, and fastened either to a waistband of string, 
or to a girdle formed by one end of the cloth itself. The length of the 
Tapa hanging down in front denotes the rank of the wearer. A fine 
kind of Tapa (Sala) is worn in the shape of a turban by those who let 
