Show n i PT l 3 fl I7i n T C 7 to ° VS lit MEN WSI ll E CRAl = WJBLT fACESo I Once Splendid Race of Maoris of f New Zealand fast Dying I Out and Threatened with Extinction 1 Auckland New Zealand Nov 20 Civilization Is responsible for the decadence de-cadence and the probable extinction of one of tho finest tribes that ever existed ex-isted In the Maoris of Now Zpalaml This littleknown race la gradually dying l dy-ing out and can no longer bo classed I as a lighting and athletic community I ThiIr history Is one of continual bloodshed blood-shed and fighting with the tribes of Nov Zealand and with the British who sought to force them to keep the peace but looking at the Maoris of today It Is dldlcult to believe that they were one proud and haughty savages who I regarded with disdain the white oalloro who occasionally visited them mocking them as they walked because they were not trained In the same athletic degree of llnencss as the Maoris They still keep up many oC the old traditions of the tribe Artistic tutoo Ing Is still a feature of the Maoris personal per-sonal decoration anl nowhere In the world can finer physical embellishment of this variety be seen Some of the older men still retain their proficiency at the spear exercise and the chiefs are not wanting in dignity and hauteur but the curses of civilization have done their work and the Maori of today Is not the Maori of fifty or oven thirty years ago At that time the Maoris were ferocious fero-cious athletes Alcohol was unknown to them Their staple foods were a kind of sweet potato the bulbous root of a kind of lily and fish and birds They did not use tobacco As a result of this abstinence they were blessed with fine white teeth keen eyesight and perfect Immunity from cancer and blood diseases Cuts and wounds healed with remarkable rapidity They were good fathers and mothers attentive atten-tive indeed almost overindulgent to their children though by an odd contrast con-trast they seldom hesitated to kill a weakly or deformed child at birth This had something to do with the splendid physique of the race The chief scourge of the Maori was consumption which was not brought upon them however by any carelessness or barbarous habit The Maoris of New Zealand were a tropical race who migrated Into a temperate zone They naturally shrank from cold and sintered from coughs rheumatism and Inlluonsa and from aliments of tho throat and lungs At last the while man came bringing bring-ing with him tho manifold curses of civilization The musket turned the I tribal wars Into butcheries and swept away a fourth of the race In twenty years Hum did summit mischief though not HO much as among other savage races More deleterious was incessant tobacco smoking Various Infectious diseases went through the tribes European Eu-ropean dress worn In full one day und half laid aslvle tho next was another I evil against a pcopli already subject I ronaumntloii when the British rule brought after a succession of dkuu iinir > urt lasting peace even that had Its disadvantages It deprived the tribes of their main business rind excitement ex-citement and of the stimulus to keep In hard training Jn the old fighting days the villages were placed on Lime hilltops or at the edges of tall cliffs in the healthiest spots In the islands They have since been too often shifted to lowlying illdrained levels by rivers lagoons or marches Worst of all Is the semiIdleness In which the Maorl too often passes the year He has grown fat sluggish and unambitious too Intelligent In-telligent not to see that his race needs rousing and reforming but too lazy torpid and dispirited to gpt on his feet and begin the work Thorn are men still living who took part In the terrible war dance of the Maoris now a thing of tin past All eyewitnesses unite in describing its effect ef-fect as terrific Hardheaded pioneers and travelers untroubled by nerves admit ad-mit to the impression of horror left upon them by 1 the sight Painted with red ochre stripped to the skin the tattooed warriors roared groaned writhed and brandished their weapons At one moment all leaped In the air at another they stamped tho earth until un-til It shook beneath them Their tongues were protruded their faces worked convulsively their eyeballs rolled till only the glaring white could be seen Dripping with sweat they seemed very demons In their frenzied contortions and excitement It Is a pity that tho Maoris cannot be saved from extinction but that seems to be the inevitable doom of this fine race |