NEW Z E 
and the holes ftretched fo as to admit a man’s finger: the 
ornaments of their ears are feathers, cloth, bones, and 
fometimes bits of wood; a great many of them ufe nails, 
which were given them by the Englifh, for this purpofe; 
and the women fometimes adorn their ears with the white 
down of the albatrofs, which they fpread before and be¬ 
hind the hole, in a large bunch; they likewife hang to 
their ears by firings, chiffels, bodkins, the teeth of dogs, 
and the teeth and nails of their deceafed friends. The 
arms and ancles of the women are adorned with fhells and 
bones, or any thing elfe through which they can pafs a 
tiring. The men wear a piece of green talc, or whalebone, 
with the refemblance of a man carved on it, hanging to 
a firing round the neck. 
The houfes, or huts, are from fixteen to twenty-four 
feet long, ten or twelve wide, and fix or eight in height. 
The frame is of flight flicks of wood, and the walls and 
roof are made of dry grafs, pretty firmly compared. 
Some of them are lined with bark of trees; and the ridge 
of the houfe is formed by a pole, which runs from one 
end to the other. The door is only high enough to admit 
a perfon crawling on hands and knees; and the roof is 
Hoping. There is a fquare hole near the door, ferving 
both for window and chimney, near which is the fire¬ 
place. A plank is placed near the door, adorned with a 
fort of carving, and this they confider as an ornamental 
piece of furniture. The fide-walls and roof, projedting 
tw'O or three feet beyond the walls at each end, form a 
fort of portico, where benches are placed to fit on. The 
fire is made in the middle of a hollow fquare in the floor, 
which is inclofed with wood or flone. They fleep near 
the walls, where the ground is covered with flraw for 
their beds. Befides the fern-root, which ferves them for 
bread, they feed on albatroffes, penguins, and fome other 
birds. Whatever they eat is either roafted or baked, as 
they have no vefiels in which water can be boiled. The 
manner of preparing the fern-root, which is their ftaff of 
life, is very fimple: after leaving it in the fire for fome 
time to be heated fuffieiently, they take it out and pound 
it with a mallet till it becomes quite foft, and fit for chew¬ 
ing. Being thus prepared for ufe, the cooks throw it 
round in handfuls to the chiefs and other perfons, who 
chew it till all the faccharine or nutritive matter is ex¬ 
tracted, and, {pitting out the fibrous part, they go on 
again, and continue in this manner till they have fatisfied 
their appetites. The fern-root, when hot, has a pleafant 
fweetifh tafle, and on being fteeped in water depofes a 
glutinous fubftance refembling jelly. If experiments 
were made with this root in other countries, it might 
at times be eminently ufeful in wild diflrifts where it 
abounds, and where the fcarcity of bread is foonefl and 
moll feverely felt. With all their food, the New Zea¬ 
landers drink nothing but water; being among the very 
few people, civilized or favage, who are ignorant of the 
means of intoxication. We need not wonder, therefore, 
that they enjoy perfeCl and uninterrupted health. When 
wounded in battle, the wound heals in a very fhort time, 
without the application of medicine; and the very old 
people carry no other marks of decay about them, than 
the lofs of their hair and teeth, and a failure of their muf- 
cular ftrength, but enjoy an equal {hare of health and 
cheerfulnefs with the youngeft. 
The canoes of this country are not unlike the whale¬ 
boats of New England, being long and narrow. The 
larger fort feem to be built for war, and will hold from 
thirty to one hundred men; one of thefe meafured near 
leventy feet in length, fix in width, and four in depth. 
It was fharp at the bottom, and confifted of three lengths, 
about two or three inches thick, and tied firmly together 
with flrong plaiting: each fide was formed of one entire 
plank, about twelve inches broad, and about an inch and 
a half thick, which were fitted to the bottom part with 
equal ftrength and ingenuity. Several thwarts were laid 
from one fide to the other, to which they were fecurely 
fattened, in order to ftrengthen the canoes. Thefie vefi'els 
Vol.XVI. No. 1155. 
ALAND. 703 
are rowed with a kind of paddles, between five and fix 
feet in length, the blade of which is a long oval, gra¬ 
dually decreafing till it reaches the handle; and the ve¬ 
locity with which they row with thefe paddles is furprifing: 
their fails are compofed of a kind of mat or netting, which 
is extended between two upright poles, one of which is 
fixed on each fide. Two ropes fattened to the top of each 
pole ferve inftead of theets. The vefiels are fteered by 
two men, having each a paddle, and fitting in th'e Hern ; 
but they can only fail before the wind, in which direction 
they move with confiderable fwiftnefs. Thefe Indians 
ufe axes, adzes, and chifiels, with which laft they likewife 
bore holes. The chifiels are made of jafper, or of the 
bone of a man’s arm; and their axes and adzes of a hard 
black ftone. Their tillage of the ground is excellent, 
owing to the necefiity they are under of cultivating, or 
running the ritk of ftarving. A long narrow ftake, 
lharpened to an edge at bottom, with a piece fixed acrofs, 
a little above it, for the convenience of driving it into 
the ground with the foot, fupplies the place both of 
plough and fpade. The foil being light, their work is 
not very laborious; and with this inftrument alone they 
will turn up ground of fix or feven acres in extent. Their 
filh-hooks are of {hell or bone; and they have baflcets of 
wicker-work to hold the filh. Their warlike weapons are 
fpears, darts, battle-axes, and the patoo-patoo. The {pear, 
which is pointed at each end, is about twenty-fix feet in 
length, and they hold it in the middle, fo that it is dif¬ 
ficult to parry a pufli from it. Whether they fight in 
boats or on-lhore, the battle is hand to hand; their con- 
tefts muft be bloody. The employment of the men is 
fuppofed to confift in cultivating the ground, making 
nets, catching birds, and fiftiing; while the women are 
engaged in weaving cloth, procuring fern-roots and lhell- 
fifii, and drefling food. 
Thefe people exhibit a ftrange mixture of civilized and 
favage life. It was hoped, from the Hate of their cul¬ 
tivated grounds, of which feveral hundred acres were 
feen, that prefents of hogs, kids, and poultry, would 
have been moll acceptable; and confiderable numbers 
were left with them on the firft and fecond vifits of Capt. 
Cook; but, excepting the cocks and hens, which had 
bred plentifully, and flew about wild in the woods, the 
others had been wantonly deftroyed. In 1791, Vancouver 
touched at Dufky Bay, and remained there for fome time, 
examining the bays and creeks in the neighbourhood 5 
but they did not fee one human being. And, in 1793, 
d’Entrecafteaux palled between the Three Kings’ Ifiand 
and Cape Maria Van Diemen, but had no other com¬ 
munication with the natives but in their canoes. Unlike 
in every refpe£t to the Otaheitans, they have evidently a 
common origin ; their language not differing more than 
the language of the two New Zealand Illands from each 
other. The few notions they have of fuperior beings alfo 
accord with thofe of Otaheite. 
In the year 1810, feveral natives of the South-Sea iflands 
vifited England, having been brought by different mer- 
chant-veffels, in which they engaged tliemfelves as com¬ 
mon failors. Among thefe was Duaterra, nephew to 
Tippahee, the New Zealand chief, who had formerly 
vifited Port Jackfon, and fon-in-law of another chief 
named Wanakee. He was a very intelligent young man, 
pofiefling confiderable natural abilities, and an ardent 
thirft of knowledge. His only objedt, as he faid, for 
leaving his native country was to fee King George. For 
this purpofe he entered on-board the Santa Anna, belong¬ 
ing to Port Jackfon, which touched at New Zealand, on 
her way to fome of the South-Sea iflands, on a fealing- 
voyage, in the courfe of which he was expofed to many 
dangers, hardlhips, and toils. As a reward for thefe, 
Duaterra expected on his arrival in the Thames to fee 
the king, but was unfortunately difappointed. The cap¬ 
tain kept him nearly the whole time he was in England 
on-board the fhip at work, till Ihe was difcharged; and, on 
the 5th of Auguft, 1811, fent him on-board the Anne, 
9 Q which 
