New Zealauder.
than the men in proportion, and are in other respects inferior to them, perhaps from their marrying too young, and having to perform too much of the dnulgeryof life. Some of the women, however, are represented as being delicately moulded, with long eyelashes, pleasing feat- ures, and a plaintive, pathetic voice, which makes them highly interesting. The whole nation is divided into sevcntee_n families or clans ; but though they originally kept strictly distinct, they have since the invasion of the whites intermingled freely, especially in the last twenty years. There seem to have existed such great distinctions among the several clans that the diflFer-
The system of taboo, or consecration of persons and things by the native priests as sacred and inviolate, so common to the Pacific isles, nowliere prevailed to a greater extent than in New Zealand when first opened to colonization. This was partly a religious and partly a political ordinance, and was so much respected that even in war times hostile tribes left unharmed all per- sons and things thus protected by the taboo of the op- posite side. Tattooing was practiced, and was made a much more painful operation than in the other Pacific isles; it was performed with a hammer and saw-like chisel. The punctures were stained with vegetable dyes, and the patterns, which extended over the face, hips, thighs, etc., represented ornamental scrolls and figures, supposed to denote the rank of the individual wearing them. The women were but slightly tattooed, with a few lines on the lips, chin, and occasionally other parts of the body. The priests were the principal oper- ators, and during the process ancient songs were sung, to encourage, divert the attention, and increase the pa- tience of the sufferers. This tattooing was supposed to make the Maori youth both more terrible in the eyes of his enemies and more acceptable in those of his mistress. The wars of the Maori were formerly carried on with spears and clubs of various kinds, manufactured, as is the custom, according to ethnologists, among lowly civ- ilized people, of stone and wood. Their most remark- able weapon was a spear of nephrite, which descended among the principal chiefs from father to son, and was regarded as a kind of sceptre, and even a sacred object. It was called Merimeri, " the fire of the gods," and was sometimes used for scalping prisoners. There are other weapons of nephrite in use among the Maori ; they are much sought after, and very costl^^ The use of fire- arms is now, however, very general among the IMaori, and that they are adroit marksmen has been made but too apparent in their contests with English troops.
The heathen religion of the New Zealanders was largely my thological ; temples were wanting; supersti- tion and sleight of hand, however, played an important part in their religious system, and the priest virtually ruled and had his own way in everything. IMost per- nicious practices were thus introduced and freely en- couraged to strengthen and perpetuate priestly power. The New Zealanders worshipped various gods, ajipar- ently personifications of natural objects and powers, to whom they addressed prayers and offered sacrifices. Their divinities were spiritual and invisible; they had no idols. Many of the gods were deified men, ancestral chiefs of the tribe or nation by whom they ^vere wor- shipped. They believed in a future state and in their own immortality. There were two distinct abodes for departed spirits, neither of which -(vas a place of punish- ment, evil deeds being punished in this world by sick- ness and other personal misfortunes. Their priests were supposed to be in communication with their gods, and to express their wishes and commands. Sorcerers were thought to possess great power, and -(vere held in pecul- iar dread. The moral code was adapted to various social conditions and circumstances. Among chiefs courage, liberality, command of temper, endurance of torture without complaint, revenge of injuries, and ab- stinence from insults to others, were regarded as vir- tues ; among slaves, obedience to their masters and re- spect for the taboo ; among married women, fidelity to their husbands. Their idea of Wiro, the evil spirit, was nearh' akin to the scriptural idea of the pvil one. Sickness, they supposed, was brought on by him, com- ing in the form of a lizard, and, entering the side, preyed on the vitals. Ilcncc they made incantations over the sick, threatening to kill and cat their deity, or to burn him to a cinder, indess he should come out. With the New Zealander superstition took the place of medical skill. When a person had a pain in the back, he would lie down and get another to jimip over him and tread on
ences closely resemble the caste distinctions of Ind_„. „ ., ..
Wars against each other were frequent, and cannibalism I him to remov'e the pain, A wound was bruised with a was freely practiced until within the last forty years. I stone, and afterwards held over the smoke. In inter-
NEW ZEALAND
41
NEW ZEALAND
nal acute diseases the patient sent for a priest, lay down, and died. Dreams and omens were much re- garded, and had great influence over their conduct. On important occasions, when several tribes were going to war, an oracle was consulted by setting up sticks to represent the diiferent tribes, and watching the wind to see which way the sticks would fall, in order to deter- mine which party would be victorious. But the person performing the ceremony, by a little juggling, could determine the question as he pleased. The belief in witchcraft, also, almost universally prevailed, and was productive of all the suspicion, cruelty, and injustice which generally accompany it among a barbarous and superstitious people. A ceremony, called iriin, or roki, was performed by the priests upon infants before they were a month old, and consisted of a species of baptism, sometimes by sprinkling and sometimes by immersion. The Rev. W. Butler thus relates the ceremony in New- comb's Cijclopctdia of Missions, s. v. : " When a child was born, it was wrapped in a coarse cloth and laid in a veranda to sleep; and in a few hours the mother pursued her ordinary work in the field. The child suf- fered much ; and if its mother did not furnish it nour- ishment enough, it must perish. Large holes were slit ill the ear, and a stick, half an incli in diameter, thrust through. When five days old the child was carried to a stream of water, and either dipped or sprinkled, and a name given to it ; and a priest mumbled a prayer, the purport of which was said to be an address to some un- known spirit, praying that he may so influence the child that he may become cruel, brave, warlike, troublesome, adulterous, murderous, a liar, a thief, disobedient — in a word, guilty of every crime. After this small pebbles, about the size of a pin's head, were thrust down its throat, to make its heart callous, hard, and incapable of pity. The ceremony was concluded with a feast."