The inhabitants of New Zealand are as modest and reserved in their behaviour and conversation as the most polite nations of Europe. The women, indeed, were not dead to the softer impressions; but their mode of consent was, in their idea, as harmless as the consent to marriage with us, and equally binding for the stipulated time. If any of the English addressed one of their women, he was informed, that the consent of her friends must be obtained, which usually followed, on his making a present. This done, he was obliged to treat his temporary wife at least as delicately as we do in England. A gentleman who sailed in the Endeavour having addressed a family of some rank, received an answer, of which the following is an exact translation.--“Any of these young ladies will think themselves honoured by your addresses, but you must first make me a suitable present, and you must then come and sleep with us on shore, for daylight must by no means be a witness of what passes between you.”
These Indians anoint their hair with oil, melted from the fat of fish or birds. The poorer people use that which is rancid, so that they smell very disagreeable; but those of superior rank make use of that which is fresh. They wear combs, both of bone and wood, which is considered as an ornament when stuck upright in the hair. The men tie their hair in a bunch on the crown of the head, and adorn it with the feathers of birds, which they likewise sometimes place on each side of the temples. They commonly wear short beards. The hair of the women sometimes flows over the shoulders, and sometimes is cut short. Both sexes, but the men more than the women, mark their bodies with black stains, called Amoco. In general the women stain only the lips; but sometimes mark other parts with black patches: the men, on the contrary, put on additional marks from year to year, so that those who are very ancient are almost covered. Exclusive of the amoco, they mark themselves with furrows. These furrows make a hideous appearance, the edges being indented, and the whole quite black. The ornaments of the face are drawn in the spiral form, with equal elegance and correctness, both cheeks being marked exactly alike; while the paintings on their bodies resemble fillagree work, and the foliage in old chafed ornaments: but no two faces or bodies are painted exactly after the same model. The people of New Zealand frequently left the breech free from these marks; which the inhabitants of Otaheite adorned beyond any other. These Indians likewise paint their bodies, by rubbing them with red oker, either dry, or mixed with oil.
Their dress is formed of the leaves of the flag split into slips, which are interwoven, and made into a kind of matting, the ends, which are seven or eight inches in length, hanging out on the upper side. One piece of this matting being tied over the shoulders, reaches to the knees: the other piece being wrapped round the waist, falls almost to the ground. These two pieces are fastened to a string, which, by means of a bodkin of bone, is passed through, and tacks them together. The men wear the lower garment only at particular times.
They have two kinds of cloth besides the coarse matting or shag abovementioned; one of which is as coarse, but beyond all proportion stronger than English canvass; the other, which is formed of the fibres of a plant, drawn into threads which cross and bind each other, resembles the matting on which we place our dishes at table. They make borders of different colours to both these sorts of cloth, resembling girls samplars, and finished with great neatness and elegance. What they consider as the most ornamental part of their dress is the fur of dogs, which they cut into stripes, and sew on different parts of their apparel. As dogs are not plenty, they dispose these stripes with great œconomy. They have a few dresses, ornamented with feathers; and one man was seen covered wholly with those of the red parrot.
The women never tie their hair on the top of their head, nor adorn it with feathers; and are less anxious about dress than the men. Their lower garment is bound tight round them, except when they go a fishing, and then they are careful that the men shall not see them. It once happened that some of the ship’s crew surprized them in this situation, when some of them hid themselves among the rocks, and the rest kept their bodies under water till they had formed a girdle and apron of weeds; in a word, their whole behaviour manifested the most refined ideas of female modesty.
The ears of both sexes are bored, and the holes stretched so as to admit a man’s finger. The ornaments of their ears are feathers, cloth, bones, and sometimes bits of wood; a great many of them made use of the nails which were given them by the English, for this purpose, and the women sometimes adorned their ears with the white down of the albatross, which they spread before and behind the hole, in a large bunch. They likewise hung to their ears by strings, chissels, bodkins, the teeth of dogs, and the teeth and nails of their deceased friends. The arms and ancles of the women are adorned with shells and bones, or any thing else through which they can pass a string. The men wear a piece of green talc, or whalebone, with the resemblance of a man carved on it, hanging to a string round the neck. They saw one man who had the gristle of his nose perforated, and a feather being passed through it, projected over each cheek.
These people shew less ingenuity in the structure of their houses, than in any thing else belonging to them; they are from sixteen to twenty-four feet long, ten or twelve wide, and six or eight in height. The frame is of slight sticks of wood, and the walls and roof are made of dry grass pretty firmly compacted. Some of them are lined with the bark of trees, and the ridge of the house is formed by a pole, which runs from one end to the other. The door is only high enough to admit a person crawling on hands and knees and the roof is sloping. There is a square hole near the door, serving both for window and chimney, near which is the fire-place. A plank is placed near the door, adorned with a sort of carving, and this they consider as an ornamental piece of furniture. The side walls and roof projecting two or three feet beyond the walls at each end, form a sort of portico, where benches are placed to sit on. The fire is made in the middle of a hollow square in the floor, which is enclosed with wood or stone. They sleep near the walls, where the ground is covered with straw for their beds.
Some who can afford it, and whose families are large, have three or four houses, enclosed within a court yard. Their cloaths, arms, feathers, some ill-made tools, and a chest, in which all these are deposited, form all the furniture of the inside of the house. Their hammers to beat fern-root, gourds to hold water, and baskets to contain provisions, are placed without the house.
One house was found near forty feet long, twenty wide, and fourteen high. Its sides were adorned with carved planks of workmanship superior to the rest; but the building appeared to have been left unfinished.
Though the people sleep warm enough at home, they seem to despise the inclemency of the weather, when they go in search of fish or fern-roots. Sometimes, indeed, they place a small defence to windward; but frequently sleep under bushes, with their arms placed round them, without the least shelter whatever.
Besides the fern-root, which serves them for bread, they feed on albatrosses, penguins, and some other birds. Whatever they eat is either roasted or baked, as they have no vessel in which water can be boiled.
They saw no plantations of coccos, potatoes and yams, to the southward, though there were many in the northern parts.--The natives drink no other liquor than water, and enjoy perfect and uninterrupted health.--When wounded in battle, the wound heals in a very short time without the application of medicine; and the very old people carry no other marks of decay about them than the loss of their hair and teeth, and a failure of their muscular strength:--but enjoy an equal share of health and chearfulness with the youngest.--Such are the happy effects of exercise and temperance!
The canoes of this country are not unlike the whale-boats of New England, being long and narrow. The larger sort seem to be built for war, and will hold from thirty to one hundred men. One of these at Tolaga measured near seventy feet in length, six in width, and four in depth. It was sharp at the bottom, and consisted of three lengths, about two or three inches thick, and tied firmly together with strong plaiting: each side was formed of one entire plank, about twelve inches broad, and about an inch and a half thick, which were fitted to the bottom part with equal strength and ingenuity. Several thwarts were laid from one side to the other, to which they were securely fastened, in order to strengthen the canoes.
Some few of their canoes, at Mercury Bay and Opoorage, are all made entirely of one trunk of wood, which is made hollow by fire: but by far the greater part are built after the plan above described. The smaller boats, which are used chiefly in fishing, are adorned at head and stern with the figure of a man, the eyes of which are composed of the white shells of sea-ears, a tongue of enormous size is thrust out of the mouth, and the whole face is a picture of the most absolute deformity. The grander canoes, which are intended for war, are ornamented with open work, and covered with fringes of black feathers, which gives the whole an air of perfect elegance: the side boards, which are carved in a rude manner, are embellished with tufts of white feathers.