810 
Z E A L A 
away their time in idleness. They have many gross and re¬ 
volting superstitions. No sooner does a person arrive at a 
certain stage of illness among them, than they place the un¬ 
happy creature under the wrath of the Etua; and incapable of 
accounting for the disease with which he is afflicted, as of 
applying a remedy to it, they can only consider it as a pre¬ 
ternatural visitation of retributive justice, which it would be 
impious to resist by any human expedient. Many a poor 
sufferer who, with a little ordinary attention, might be soon 
restored to health and vigour, is devoted by this horrid su¬ 
perstition to perish in the very midst of his kindred, without 
a single effort being made for his recovery. But his death is 
not the only loss which the community sustains at the time it 
happens ; his wife, though she durst not administer that sim¬ 
ple aid which might have rescued him from a premature 
grave, -is obliged to immolate herself at his dissolution, as an 
indispensable test of her faithful attachment. The islands 
being divided among a variety of petty chiefs, are continually 
involved in the most barbarous dissensions and bloody wars, 
carried on with all the malignity of savages. Being divided 
into rival associations, they are taught from their infancy to 
cherish a spirit of ferocious hostility against each other, and 
implacable vengeance becomes a necessary duty, to which 
they are reconciled by habit, while they indulge it without 
remorse. The New Zealanders, according to captain Cook, 
must live under perpetual apprehensions of being destroyed 
by each other ; there being few of their tribes that have not, 
as they think, sustained wrongs from some ocher tribe, which 
they are continually upon the watch to revenge; and per¬ 
haps the desire of a good meal may be no small incitement. 
They will even preserve their enmity from father to son ; and 
the son never loses sight of an injury done to his father. 
The method of executing their horrible designs is by stealing 
upon their enemies in the night; and if they find them un¬ 
guarded (which, however, is but seldom the case) they kill 
every one indiscriminately, not even sparing the women and 
children ; the dead bodies they either devour on the spot, or 
carry them home for that purpose. If they are discovered 
before they can execute their bloody purpose, they generally 
steal off; and sometimes are pursued and attacked by the 
other party in their turn. They never give quarter, or lake 
prisoners. This perpetual state of warfare reuders them so 
circumspect, that they are never off their guard, either by 
night or day. According to their system of belief, the soul 
of the man whose flesh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed 
to perpetual fire; while the soul of him whose body has 
been rescued, as well as those who die a natural death, ascend 
to the habitation of the gods. They do not eat the bodies 
of their friends who have been rescued. Their common 
method of disposing of the dead is by burying in the earth ; 
but if they have more of their slaughtered enemies than they 
can eat, they throw them into the sea. They have no such 
thing as morais, or other places of public worship ; nor do 
they ever assemble together with this view. But they have 
priests who alone address the gods in prayers for the prospe¬ 
rity of their temporal affairs. Their dress is formed of the 
leaves of the flag, split into slips, which are interwoven, and 
made into a kind of matting, the ends, which are seven or 
eight inches in length, hanging out on the upper side. One 
piece of this matting, being tied over the shoulders, reaches 
to the knees ; the other piece, being wrapped round the 
waist, falls almost to the ground. These two pieces are fas¬ 
tened to a siring, which by means of a bodkin of bone, is 
passed through, and tacks them together. The men wear the 
lower garment only at particular times. What they consider 
as the most ornamental part of their dress, is the fur of dogs, 
which they cut into stripes, and sew on different parts of 
their apparel. As dogs are not in plenty, they dispose these 
stripes with great economy. They have a few dresses orna¬ 
mented with feathers; and one man was seen covered 
wholly with those of the red parrot. The women never tie 
their hair on the top of their head, nor adorn it with featheis; 
and are less anxious about dress than the men. Their lower 
garment is bound tight round them, except when they go 
N D (New). 
a-fishing, and then they are careful that the men shall not 
see them. The ears of both sexes are bored, and the holes 
stretched so as to admit a man’s finger. The orna¬ 
ments of their ears are feathers, cloth, bones, and sometimes 
bits of wood ; a great many of them use nails, which were 
given them by the English for this purpose ; and the women 
sometimes adorn their ears with the white down of the albatross 
which they spread before and behind the hole, in a large 
bunch. They likewise hang to their ears by strings, chisels, 
bodkins, the teeth of dogs, and the teeth and nails of their 
deceased friends. The arms and ankles of the women are 
adorned with shells and bones, or any thing else through 
which they can pass a string. The men wear a piece of 
green talc, or whalebone, with the resemblance of a man 
carved on it, hanging to a string round the neck. They 
anoint their hair with oil, melted trom the fat of fish or birds. 
The poorer people use that which is rancid, so that their 
smell is very disagreeable; but those of superior rank make 
use of that which is fresh. They wear combs, both of bone 
and wood, which are considered as an ornament, when 
stuck upright in the hair. The men tie their hair in a bunch 
on the crown of their head, and adorn it with the feathers of 
birds, which they likewise sometimes place on each side of 
the temples. They commonly wear short beards; the hair 
of the women sometimes flows over the shoulders, and some¬ 
times is cut short. Both sexes, but the men more than the 
women, mark their bodies with black stains called Amoco ; 
in general the women stain only the lips, but sometimes 
mark other parts with black patches; the men, on the con¬ 
trary, put on additional marks from year to year, so that 
those who are very ancient are almost covered. Exclusive 
of the Amoco, they mark themselves with furrows: these 
furrows make a hideous appearance, the edges being in¬ 
dented, and the whole quite black. The ornaments of the 
face are drawn in the spiral form, with equal elegance and cor¬ 
rectness, both cheeks being marked exactly alike, while the 
painting on their bodies resembles filagree work, and the 
foliage in old chased ornaments; but no two faces or bodies 
are painted exactly after the same model. These Indians 
likewise paint their bodies, by rubbing them with red ochre, 
either dry or mixed with oil. The houses are from 16 to 24 
feet long, 10 or 12 wide, and 6 or 8 in height. The frame 
is of slight sticks of wood, and the walls and roof are made 
of dry grass pretty firmly compacted. Some of them are 
lined with bark of trees, and the ridge of the house is formed 
by a pole, which runs from one end to the other. The door 
is only high enough to admit a person crawling on hands 
and knees; and the roof is sloping. There is a square hole 
near the door, serving both for window and chimney, near 
which is the fire-place. A plank is placed near the door, 
adorned with a sort of carving, and this they consider as an 
ornamental piece of furniture. The side walls, and roof, 
projecting two or three feet beyond the walls at each end, 
form a sort of portico, u'here benches are placed to sit on. 
The fire is made in the middle of a hollow square in the 
floor, which is inclosed with wood or stone. They sleep 
near the walls, where the ground is covered with straw for 
their beds. Besides the fern root, which serves them for 
bread, they feed on albatrosses, penguins, and some other birds. 
Whatever they eat is either roasted or baked, as they have 
no vessels in which water can be boiled. There were no plan¬ 
tations of cocoas, potatoes, and yams, to the southward, 
though there were many in the northern parts. The natives 
drink no other liquor than water, and enjoy perfect and un¬ 
interrupted health. When wounded in battle, the wound 
heals in a very short time, without the application of me¬ 
dicine; and the very old people carry no other marks of 
decay about them than the loss of their hair and teeth, ar.d 
a failure of their muscular strength, but enjoy an equal share 
of health and cheerfulness with the youngest. The canoes 
of this country are not unlike the whale boats of New' Eng¬ 
land, being long and narrow. The larger sort seem to be 
built for war, and will hold from 30 to 100 men: one of 
these measured near 70 feet in length, 6 in width, and 4 in 
depth. 
