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but this country is not without its dissemblers; and particu larly among those advanced in life are to be found some who can smile, and assent to your opinion, when their natural feelings dictate a frown, and a decided disapprobation of your

conduct or sentiments."

This people has also been very accurately described by Cook, Furneaux, and King. These judicious observers say, that the dispositions of both sexes are sanguinary and ferocious, and they are implacable towards their enemies. It seems strange that, where there is so little to be got by victory, there should so often be war; and that every district should be at enmity with all the rest. But possibly more is to be gained by victory among these people than at first appears.

The New Zealanders 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 other tribe, which they are continually on the watch to revenge: and the desire of a good meal is no small incitement. Many years will sometimes elapse before a favourable opportunity happens, yet the son never loses sight of an injury that has been done to his father. Their method of executing their horrible designs, is by stealing upon the adverse party in the night and if they find them unguarded (which is very seldom the case) they kill every one indiscriminately, not even sparing the women and children. When the massacre is completed, they either feast and gorge themselves on the spot, or carry off as many of the dead bodies as they can, and devour them at home, with acts of brutality too shocking to be described. If they are discovered before they can execute their bloody purpose, they generally steal off again; and sometimes are pursued and attacked by the other party in their turn. To give quarter, or to take prisoners, makes no part of their military law; so that the vanquished could only save their lives by flight.

The inhabitants of the other parts of the South Seas have not even the idea of indecency with respect to any object or any action; but those of New Zealand, in their conduct and conversation, observe rather more decorum. The women,

though they are not impregnable, are more decent in their manner. In personal cleanliness, they are not quite equal to the Otaheiteans; because, not having the advantage of so warm a climate, they do not so often go into the water: but the most disgusting thing about them is the oil, with which they anoint their hair; it is the fat either of fish or of birds, melted down; and though the higher ranks have it fresh, their inferiors use that which is rancid, and consequently are almost as disagreeable to the smell as a Hottentot; neither are their heads free from vermin, though they are furnished with combs, both of bone and wood; these combs are sometimes worn stuck upright in the hair as an ornament. But there was seen among them one instance of cleanliness in which they exceeded them, and of which perhaps there is no example in any other Indian nation. Every house, or every little cluster of two or three houses, was furnished with a privy, so that the ground was every where clean. The offals of their food, and other litter, were also piled up in regular dunghills, which probably they made use of at a proper time for manure.

The men generally wear their beards short, and their hair tied upon the crown of the head in a bunch, in which they stick the feathers of various birds, in different manners, according to their fancies; sometimes one is placed on each side of the temples, pointing forwards, which we thought made a very disagreeable appearance. The women cropped short, and sometimes flowing over their shoulders.

The dress of the New Zealander, is certainly to a stranger, at first sight, the most uncouth that can be imagined. It is made of the leaves of a flag, split into three or four slips, and the slips when they are dry, interwoven with each other into a kind of stuff, between netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine inches long, hanging out on the upper side, like the shag or thrumb mats, which we sometimes see lying in a passage. Of this cloth, if cloth it may be called, two pieces serve for a complete dress; one of them is tied over their shoulders with a string, and reaches as low as the knees; to the end of this string is fastened a bodkin of bone, which is easily passed through any two parts of this upper garment, so VOL. IV. 3 L

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as to tack them together: the other piece is wrapped round the waist, and reaches nearly to the ground: the lower part, however, is worn by the men only upon particular occasions; but they wear a belt, to which a string is fastened, for a very singular use. Over this garment some of them wear mats, which reach from the shoulders to near the heels. But the most common covering is a quantity of a sedgy plant badly dressed, which they fasten on a string of considerable length, and throwing it about the shoulders, let it fall down on all sides, as far as the middle of the thighs. When they sit down, with these upon them, either in their boats or upon the shore, it would be difficult to distinguish them from large grey stones, if their black heads, projecting beyond their coverings, did not engage a stricter attention. When they have only their upper garment on, and sit upon their hams, they bear some resemblance to a thatched house; but this covering, though it is ugly, is well adapted to the use of those who frequently sleep in the open air, without any other shelter from the rain. We have here given the representation of a family of Dusky bay.

The ingenuity of these people appears most remarkable in their canoes. They are long and narrow, and in shape very much resemble a New England whale boat: the larger sort seem to be built chiefly for war, and will carry from forty to eighty or an hundred armed men.-One was measured which lay ashore at Tolaga: she was sixty-eight feet and an half long, five feet broad, and three feet and an half deep: the bottom was sharp, with strait sides like a wedge, and consisted of three lengths, hollowed out to about two inches, or an inch and an half thick, and well fastened together with strong plaiting each side consisted of one entire plank, sixty-three feet long, ten or twelve inches broad, and about an inch and a quarter thick, and these were fitted and lashed to the bottom part with great dexterity and strength. A considerable number of thwarts were laid from gunwale to gunwale, to which they were securely lashed on each side, as a strengthening to the boat. The ornament at the head projected five or six feet beyond the body, and was about four feet and an halfTM

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