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Show LETTER FROM NEW ZEALAND. Kopu, Thames, New Zealand, Aug. 5th, li)07. To The Lehi Banner, Lehi. I Kditor: As I Hint a few lines j from this 1 emote part of the world 'might be of interest to thu i widen of the Banner, therefore itatl'oids me gloat pleasuie to write theie few lines about the aboriginals of New Zealand. Outside of Xew Zealand very little is known about the natives who inhabit thcbc is hindSj and that they aie gradually though lapidly passing away theie can bo no doubt. Any one who has stajed in the Maori country, or who has visited the native dis trict-s has the fact forced upon him. The linger kaingas (villages) have shtunk to a fraction ot their foimer size; many of the smaller ones have, disapneatcd altogether. The natives aie less and less conspicuous conspic-uous at the race meetings, ngrieql dual shows, and while the pietur csque gioups and liguics that once g.ne such inteicsticg vailety to the city and town population ate now the exception 1 at her than the rule. II the drcaj continue at ! the picMiit Kite a comparatively, 'shoit time will witness its. exline-' exline-' lion, though, pel haps, for a few generations some giaduall, diminishing dimin-ishing traces of mixed blood may be observable in thu while population. popula-tion. Most of the piesent Maori tribes trace their origin liom the gieat heku or Polynesian 'migration, which occurred some live hutidrad years ago; but there is abundant evidence that'the couutry-.wilgul,, TMly- ncuiipitt(fatfyw.iUMnuu miB. population, with whom sooner or later thu Polynesian immigrants came into collision, these original ! inhabitants seem to have been of a peaceable disposition, and tradition states they were often the ' victims of a wholesale slaughter. I As is usual in such cases, onco the stiength of tho beaten paity was suflieiently bioken the remnant of the able bodied men would be taken for slaves and the women for wives, when the aboriginals would , beabsoibed in the invaders, who increased and multiplied until they pinetically occupied all the open land of the North Island, as well as a poition of the South. Captain Cook mndo his Hrst visit to New Zealand on Nov. tf, 17311, and again in 1773. lie estimated the Maori population at this time at 100,000, but his estimate is no mote than a tough guebs. His ob servalions extended to a very par tial acquaintance' with the coast line, that he never penetrated in land, and that oven on the coast he entiiely missed Rome of the most populous districts. Theie is abundant evidencu to prove that Captain Cook's estimate was far too low. This evidencu (Continued on pagollvu) I LETTER FROM NEW ZEALAND; t Con tin nod from paguouu) lies fliielly in tho nmilc of ncctina, lion which tlio Jlnotis luivo loll in the iinillitmlooffoiUliud iiositions, niid in the innumerable area of html bvariiiK traces of former cultl vation. Tliu nttmbei' ami sizo of tho v illumes (pus) throughout tho length and breadth of tho Xottli Island is aniiizing. Alon t'"-' O tit ta Mil ley a ratiKc of hills four or live miles long lias neatly every mi intuit scarped ami terraced, some of tlio wotks being so extensive Unit it would take a thousand men to hold the position, and probably a far gt eater number to construct the wotks. While many other places shows signs of ancient civilization. civi-lization. However humiliating to the-self-uilccm of Hie white man, it must lie confessed that it is the contact with the Kttropeaii civilization that lias pi lived the ruin of Hie race. Kioin the moment that the (Takclm) white man first found footing in the country, and by the introduction of whisky and other evils the thousands have dwindled into huudicds, ami tint hundreds to lens, until tlie dying remnant, ol lowered physique and declining hiitlitnlc.ui.c the Mile rcpiuscntn-lives rcpiuscntn-lives of pei Imps the iinost aborigi-n aborigi-n tl people the world has ever pto-duced. pto-duced. Uncol'llie first toward Hie extinction ex-tinction of the Jiit'iris was the acquisition ac-quisition of Hi canns. Two or three .Vi-ais na If a war i a ly practically inincilile when tho enemy was unpunided with the wvapons. When tbe.M.uiiii lieaul tho report and saw the warriors fall without appaiently being struck they thot that some of the atua'f or ancestral ances-tral deities hud come down to join in the light, and a wild panic and general stampede would ensue, when they would bo butchered without icsistiince with this spear mid mete (war club). "We can light against, men," they said, "but who can light against thotiods." The Hi-st recorded instances of Hie use of tho new weapon in Maori warfare was in the case of a .small paity of Ngapttlii, who, with only two old Hint lock guns, made a raid down the west coast of the Not Hi Island in about 1818. After Af-ter each battle they stopped to feast on the slain and took care that no survivors wete left to carry the nlaiiri to the next sottlument. This expedition was not so severe lis the,. ono, carried out a few years later by the great chief llongi Ikn, who about this time was chief over all the northern pint of New Zealand. In tho yeur 1820 Hongi Ikn mndo a trip to England to help in bringing out a Maori Dictionary Dic-tionary and (imuimar. While there the king gave him a suit of armor, while tho good people, who credited his benevolent intentions, gave liini a number of plows, liar rows, etc., to help him in his work qf civilization. On his return while at Sidney lie managed to exchange ex-change his stock of agricultural implements for a number of muskets, mus-kets, which, with others that his people had already ncquired fiom the wlialets in tho Hay of Islands, brought his armory up to ;i()0 pieces with a pioportioualo Umottttl of amuiiilioti. building ' inTew Zwland he found his puo-plo puo-plo or war with the natives of Ilauooke. Here it was he tried the olivet of his ttuw weapons, when after burning all the villiuges and killing hundieds on the Held of ! battle, he brought '20011 prisoner I home to the Hay of Island. This was in 1821, and for the ncjfl ten years Hongi kept the whole country in lire ami blood i shetl. making an evpedilioti each t year. If a tribe helped the people with whom he happened to be en gaged, that tribe would bo next U) leceive his attention. When preparing for a campaign lie would hoist his Hug a red blanket over lite village, and send messengers to the vatlous sub-tribes in the neigh borhood; and should any of these have the hatdilinod to refuse to supply a contingent they had to reckon with him on his return, in this way ho successively raided most of the North Island. The last of the Maori Wars was in 18(111 and aceardiiig to the last census they numbered tO.000 When we rellect that the warriors engaged were the very Hower ol the Maori people, we tun under stand that the loss to tho race was quite beyond numerical conipttta Hon. 1 am well ami am enjoying mj labors as a missionary among tin native people of this laud ami the work of the Lotd is progressing nicely in litis pait of Hie Master's vineyard. With kindest tcgnrds to friends, in which Klder Morrell joins, 1 remain, Very respcclftijly, Hl.WiK J NO. A. SoUTHWlCK, Koptt, Thames, X. 'A. , |
