attacked by the other party, in their turn To give quarter,
.or to take prifoners, makes no part of their military Jaw*
-fo that the vanquiihed can only fav.e their lives by flight.
This perpetual ftate of war, and deftru&ive method of con-
.duCting it, operates fo ftrongly in producing habitual .cir-
cumfpeaion, that one hardly ever finds a New Zealander off
his guard, either by night or by day. Indeed, no other man
can have fuch powerful motives to be vigilant, as the pre-
fervation both of body and of foul depends upon it. For,
according to their fyftem o f belief, the foul of the man
whole flefh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual
fire, while the foul of the man whofe body has been
refcued from thofe who killed him, as well as the fouls of
all who die a natural death, afcend to the habitations of the
Gods I aiked, Whether they eat the flefh of fuch of their
friends as had been killed in war, but -whofe bodies were
faved from falling into the enemy’s hands ? They feemed
furprifed at the queftion, which they anfwered in the negative,
exprefling fome abhorrence at the very idea . Their
common method of difpofing of their dead is by depofit-
ing their bodies in the earth; but if they have more of
their flaughtered enemies than they can eat, they throw
them into the fea.
They have no fuch thing as morals, or other places of
public worihip; nor do they ever affemble
f f l view. But they have Priefts, who alone addrefo the
Gods in prayers, for the profperity of t h e i r temporal affairs ;
fuch as an enterprife againft a hoftile tribe, a fiftung party,
or the like.
Whatever the principles of their religion maybe, of which
we remain very ignorant, its inftrucTions are
inculcated into them from their very infancy. Of this I p
faw a remarkable inftance, in the youth who was firft de- 1 <— ‘
ftined to accompany Taweiharooa. He refrained from eating
the greateft part of the day, on account of his hair being
cu t; though every method was tried to induce him to break
his refolution; and he was tempted with the offer of fuch
victuals as he was known toefteem the moil. He faid, if
he eat any thing that day, the Eatooa wpuld kill him. However,
towards evening, the cravings of nature got the better
of the precepts of his religion, and he eat, though but
fparingly. I had often conjectured, before this, that they"
had fome-fuperftitious notions about their hair, having frequently
obferved quantities of it tied to the branches of
trees near fome o f their habitations; but what thefe notions ’
are, I never could learn.
Notwithftanding the divided and hoflile ftate in which the'-
New Zealanders live, travelling ftrangers, who come with
no ill defign, are well received and entertained during their
flay; which, however, it is expeCted, will be no longer'
than is requifite to tranfaCl the bufinefs they come upon.
Thus it is that a trade for psenammoo, or green talc, is carried
©n throughout the whole northern ifland. For they tell us, ■
that there is none of this ftone to be found, but at a place
which bears, its name, fomewhere about the head of Queen
Charlotte’s Sound, and not above one or two days journey,
at moft, from the ftation of our fliips. I regretted much
that I could not fpare- time fufficient for paying a vifit to ‘
the place; as we were told a hundred fabulous ftories about
this ftone, not one of which carried with it the leaft probability
of truth, though fome of" their moft fenfible men -
would have us believe them. One of thefe ftories is, that-
this ftone is originally a fifh, which, they ftrike with a g ig ’
T 2 . - - in-:
mm