felt by the inhabitants, since it is customary with them to eat, sleep, and cook in the open air. They take their rest in a site. ting posture, closely wrapped up in their mats.

With respect to the Government of New Zealand, a feudal jurisdiction is exercised by the chiefs, but their authority is absolute only in times of war. Various gradations of power, and extent of possessions, pertain to different chiefs. Some hold large tracts of land by hereditary right, and on these lands other inferior chiefs have possessions, and carry on their own cultiva tion; and manage their own affairs without any interference or controul of the head chief. The people at large are bound to no master; they go and come as they please, and are idle or industrious as moved by the wants of nature.. Over his own. household, his family, domestics, and slaves, every man, as well among the lower ranks as among the chiefs themselves, has absolute power; so far the feudal system is perfect; but beyond this, neither the theoretical nor practical machinery of govern ment seems to be any thing else, than a tacit understanding between the parties, that some shall lead and others follow for mutual security, and better protection of personal rights and property. In time of war, all the subordinate chiefs and warriors throughout the territories of a head chief flock to his stand→ ard, and put themselves under his command..

The deepest trait, perhaps, in the New Zealand character, is a passion for war; to other employments they may be reluc tantly brought by necessity; but to the din of battle, and the work of slaughter, they fly with an eager delight. Even those who have resided long in England, and become habituated to the customs of civilized life, lose none of this ferocity; their warlike propensities are revived the moment they again inhale their native atmosphere. Tooi, who had enjoyed these advan→ tages, and when in England had exhibited an amiable temper and rapid improvement, was no sooner in the midst of his tribe again, than the spirit of the savage resumed its former empire in his mind. When reproved by the missionaries for his deeds

of blood, and reminded of his better knowledge, and exhorted to promote the happiness of his people by cultivating the arts of peace, his reply was, that it was impossible, "that if you told a New Zealander to work, he fell asleep; but if you spoke of fighting, he opened his eyes as wide as a teacup; that the whole bent of his mind was war; and that he looked upon fighting as fun."

The kinds of effence, which are deemed adequate causes of war, are so numerous and varied, that it seems impossible for a state of things ever to occur, in which a settled peace can continue for any length of time. The slaying of a chief in battle, or an insult offered to a tribe at any period within the remotest verge of tradition, are considered just grounds of retaliation.

All the tribes haye fortified posts, called Paks, or Hippahs, situated at the top of an eminence difficult of ascent, as described in Cook's Voyages. But where muskets have been introduced, little confidence is put in these strong places. The warlike weapons, originally used by the natives, were the spear, mearee, and pattoo-pattoo. The spear is long, sometimes more than twenty feet, and pointed at both ends; it is grasped in the middle, and managed by the combatant with great agility and skill. The mearee is a kind of club made of stone, and worn. in the girdle; the pattoo-pattoo is a sort of wooden battle-axe. Their enlarged intercourse with more civilized nations, however, has furnished them with more effective weapons of destruction. And it is worthy of remark, that since the introduction of fire-arms, wars have been more constant and bloody; the rage for killing has burned with greater fury, in proportion as the means of doing it have increased.

Previously to entering on war the New Zealanders have their sense of injury quickened, and their souls roused to vengeance by the harangues of their orators. And immediately before engaging in battle, they work themselves up to a wild and furious frenzy by the war dance, which is common to all the tribes. The performers come together without regularity, jump from the ground with violent gestures, distort their coun

tenances, and rend the air with savage yells; and in this state of frantic excitement they rush upon the enemy. The practices of the natives in war, are thus related by Mr. Marsden.

"In time of war, great honour is paid to the head of a warrior when killed in battle, if he is properly tattooed. His head is taken to the conqueror, and preserved, as the spoils of war, with respect,-- as a standard, when taken from a regiment is respected by the victor.

“It is gratifying to the vanquished to know, that the heads of their chiefs are preserved by the enemy; for when the conqueror wishes to make peace, he takes the heads of the chiefs along with him and exhibits them to their tribe. If the tribe are desirous of putting an end to the contest, they cry aloud at the sight of the heads of their chiefs, and all hostilities terminate; this is a signal that the conqueror will grant them any terms they may require. But if the tribe are determinated to renew the contest, and risk the issue of another battle, they do not cry. Thus the head of a chief may be considered as the standard of the tribe to which he belongs, and a signal of peace or war.

"If the conqueror never intends to make peace he will dispose of the heads of those chiefs, whom he kills in battle, to ships, or to any person who will buy them. Sometimes they are purchased by the friends of the vanquished, and returned to their surviving relations, who hold them in the highest veneration, and indulge their natural feelings by reviewing, and weeping over them.

"When a chief is killed in regular battle, the victors cry aloud as soon as he falls, "Throw us the man," if he falls within the line of his own party. If the party, whose chief is dead, are intimidated, they immediately comply with the command. As soon as the victim is received, his head is immediately cut off, and a proclamation issued for all the chiefs to attend, who belong to the victorious party, to assist in performing the accustomed religious ceremony, in order to ascertain by augury, whether their god will prosper them in the present battle. If the priest, after performing the ceremony, says that their god is propitious, they are inspired with fresh courage to attack the enemy; but if the priest returns an answer, that their god will not be propitious, they quit the field of battle in sullen silence. The head, already in possession, is preserved for the chief on whose account the war was undertaken, as a satisfaction

for the injury, which he, or some one of his tribe, had received from the enemy. When the war is over, and the head properly prepared, it is sent round to all the chiefs' friends, as a gratification to them, and to shew them that justice has been obtained from the offending party."

According to Captain Cruise, these heads are preserved. wholly by desiccation; a hole is dug in the ground, and lined with stones, which are made hot; into this the head is placed rolled up in leaves, where it remains till all the moisture, which gradually exudes, has escaped; it is then taken out and set in a current of air till it becomes thoroughly dry. When thus prepared, it resists the action of the atmosphere, and the skin and muscular parts are nearly as imperishable as the bone itself.

The darkest part of the description of these people is, that they are cannibals. During Cook's first visit to New Zealand, a boat's crew from his vessel was seized while on shore in some retired place, and, as the natives afterwards confessed, the men were killed and eaten. The French navigator, Marion de Fresne, with seventeen of his men, suffered the same fate. And in 1810, all the people belonging to the English ship Boyd, were cut in quarters, distributed among the different families of the tribe, and devoured.

But nothing has been heard more shocking in the accounts of cannibalism, than the narrative of incidents, which have come under the notice of the missionaries within the last three years as contained in their journals. When Shunghee (see Friend of India, vol. vi. page 267,) returned from England with his fresh supply of fire-arms, he immediately began to meditate new wars, and resolved to take ample vengeance on all his old enemies. Great preparations were made; the surrounding tribes were summoned to join him, and he departed to seek his foes at the head of a formidable armament of war canoes, filled with fighting men. He was his wishes, and in a few months the with numerous prisoners of war.

successful to the extent of whole expedition returned And now followed a scene

which words have not power to express, and which humanity

shudders to contemplate. alive on the fields of death, were only reserved for a more dreadful end; Shunghee and his people butchered and ate them in cold blood; and for three successive days the missionaries -beheld these barbarians feasting on the prisoners of war, whom they had brought home, and on one occasion Shunghee invited -them to partake of his repast. The excess was no doubt greater at this time, because a son-in-law of Shunghee, and some other relatives of the family, had been killed in battle. Shunghee's wife, and other women of his household, seemed frantic with rage; they murdered several captives with their own hands, and the children apparently took delight in imbuing their hands in human blood.

The victims, who had been taken

Notwithstanding these ferocious habits, the New Zealanders have strong natural affections; their family ties are close and indissoluble their grief at the death of a friend is extreme, and not uncommonly, in the case of relations, leads to suicide. On Mr. Marsden's second visit, he met with persons whose friends had died during his absence, and the associations which his presence called up, put them immediately to talking of their departed friends, and brought floods of tears into their eyes. It is a usual occurrence, in seasons of mourning, for women to cut their faces and bodies in a hideous manner with a shell, that they may testify by mingling blood with their tears, the depth and sincerity of their grief. In the domestic circle they are in ge

neral, gentle and tractable, neither tyrannical towards their dependents nor harsh to their children.

The

Little can be said of the progress of art and ingenuity among them the most curious specimens are their war canoes. largest seen by Captain Cruise, belonged to a chief of Shunghee's tribe; it was eighty-four feet long, six wide, and five deep, made of a single cowry tree, hollowed out, and the sides raised about two feet with planks firmly fastened and connected by cords made of a species of flax plant. At the stem and stern was fixed a post fifteen feet high, which, together with the sides