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The canoes
are elegantly shaped, and elaborately ornamented with grotesque carvings,
painted red with kokowai; they have elevated stern-posts, and carry low
triangular sails made of raupo (a species of rush), and look markably picturesque.
A fleet of
canoes, adorned as they often are, with the snow-white feathers of the
albatross or the gull, and each manned by a numerous band of paddlers,
presents a singular and beautiful appearance; gliding swiftly over the
blue and crisp waves, and lowering their mat-sails they dart into the bay,
and run up on the beach shooting like arrows through the white breakers.
Many of the
canoes that arrive at Waltemata from the Thames, will carry from fifty
to ???ty men who
all paddle
together, singing in unison some Maori ...
Page 296
... ?ing in
measured strain, may frequently be heard when the canoe itself is but a
speck on the waves,
and the distant
sound falls on the ear with a wild and savage effect.
page 307
At the
present day, migrations in the Pacific are very common: canoes containing
frequently a dozen or twenty natives have been met with at sea more than
a thousand miles from the islands to which they belong; and others, driven
by the wind out of sight of land, are frequently carried along at the mercy
of the waves, and their crews drifted upon the first shores that may fall
in their way.
Not long since,
the brig Clarence of Sydney fell in with a canoe from the Kingsmills group,
containing a number of natives who had been twenty-four days at sea, and
knew not in which direction they were drifting.
For my own
part, I am strongly inclined to suppose that the original stock of the
Sandwich Islanders, and of the New Zealanders—for they are evidently the
same race, and of one primitive origin —
are descendants
of the ancient Mexicans; who either emigrated in then* vessels to the Sandwich
Islands (which
are at a comparatively short distance from the American coast), or were
driven thither by the winds, in consequence of getting too far out to sea
to be enabled, with their deficient knowledge of navigation, to regain
the American continent.
page 314
The children
are cheerful and lively little creatures, full of vivacity and intelligence.
They pass
their early years almost without restraint, amusing themselves with the
various games of the country : such as flying kites, which are formed of
leaves ; the game of maui; throwing mimic spears made of fern-stalks, and
sailing their tiny flax canoes on the rivers, or watching them tossed about
by the waves of the sea.
These are
the most favourite sports of these merry and interesting children.
page 320
In making their
nets and fixing weirs for catching fish, the natives are remarkably expert.
Eels are greatly
sought after in the deep streams of the interior; and crawfish are obtained
by diving.
Mussels, cockles
(pipi), the fish of the haliotis (pawa), and a variety of other shell-fish,
are used upon the coast as articles of food.
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