140 
A VOYAGE TO 
' 777 - out of a large lake, or collection of waters, the moft pro- 
bable conjecture is, that it is brought from the mountains, 
and depofited in the water, by the torrents. This lake is 
called by the natives Tavai Poenammoo ; that is, the water of 
Green Talc; and it is only the adjoining part of the coun¬ 
try, and not the whole Southern illand of New Zealand, 
that is known to them by the name which hath been given 
to it on my chart 
Polygamy is allowed amongft thefe people; and it is not 
uncommon for a man to have two or three wives. The 
women are marriageable at a very early age; and it ffiould 
feem, that one who is unmarried, is but in a forlorn ftate. 
She can with difficulty get a fubfiftence; at lead:, ffie is, in 
a great meafure, without a proteClor, though in conftant 
want of a powerful one. 
The New Zealanders feem to be a people perfectly fatif- 
fied with the little knowledge they are matters of, without 
attempting, in the leaft, to improve it. Nor are they re¬ 
markably curious, either in their observations, or their in¬ 
quiries. New objeCts do not ftrike them with fuch a degree 
of furprize as one would naturally expeCt; nor do they 
even fix their attention for a moment. Omai, indeed, who 
was a great favourite with them, would fometimes attraCt 
a circle about him; but they feemed to liften to his fpeeches, 
like perfons who neither underftood, nor wifhed to under¬ 
hand, what they heard. 
One day, on our enquiring of Taweiharooa, how many 
ffiips, fuch as ours, had ever arrived in Queen Charlotte’s 
Sound, or in any part of its neighbourhood? he began with 
giving an account of one absolutely unknown to us. This, he 
* See Captain Cook’s chart of New Zealand, in Hawkef. Coll. vol. ii. p. 281. 
Said, 
