NEW ZEALANDERS. ~ 341 
article of commerce with New South Wales, or 
England. 
The population of New Zealand has been esti- 
mated at half'a million; which estimate must, from 
the unorganized. state of society, be mere conjec- 
ture, so that it may exceed this number. The inha- 
bitants are certainly far more numerous than those 
of the Society Islands, and appear exempt from 
many of the diseases which afflict their northern 
neighbours. They are a hardy industrious race, 
generally strong and active, not only capable of 
great physical exertion, but of high moral culture, 
and are by no means deficient in intellect. Their 
tatauing and. carving frequently display great 
taste ; and when we Consider the tools with which 
the latter is performed, it increases our admiration 
of their skill and perseverance. They are, never- 
theless, addicted to the greatest vices that stain 
the human character—treachery, cannibalism, in- 
.fanticide, and murder. Less superstitious than 
many of the natives of the Pacific, but perhaps as 
much addicted to cruelty as any of them; if not 
more sO; war appears to be their delight, and the 
events of their lives are little else than a series of 
acts of oppression, robbery, and bloodshed. A 
conquering army, returning from an expedition 
of murder and devastation, bring home the men, 
women, and children of the vanquished, as 
trophies of their victory. These unhappy beings are 
either reduced to perpetual slavery, or sacrificed, to 
satiate the vengeance of their enemies. On these 
occasions, little children, whose feeble hands 
could scarcely hold the knife or dagger, have 
been initiated “in the dreadful work of death, 
and have’seemed to feel delight in stabbing cap- 
tive children, thus imbruing their fant hands in 
