New Zealanders

“ There is no reason to think that the New Zealanders are more akin to the modern Malays than they are to the Australian blacks; nor have attempts to connect them with the red men of America or the Toltecs of Mexico succeeded. They are much more like some of the Aryans of Northern India. But the truth is, their fortunes before their race settled in Polynesia are a pure matter of guess-work. Some centuries ago, driven out by feuds or shortness of food, they left their isles of reef and palm, and found their way to Ao-tea-roa, as they called New Zealand. ”

“ Two New Zealanders, on the contrary, would always sit down, as it is thought a mark of inattention to stand while addressed by another. Again, when a New Zealander enters a house, he makes his salutation and then squats down in silence for some time, the omission of this ceremony being looked upon as great a mark of ill-breeding as to go into a drawing-room with the hat on is considered among ourselves. ”

“ Many parochial and conceited New Zealanders there are, but I cannot candidly say that the average New Zealander is more parochial or conceited than are millions of people in the United States or in Europe. On subjects affecting his native heath the New Zealander undoubtedly is sensitive, but what nationalities are not so?
On the other hand, prolonged prosperity apparently has created in the New Zealander some indifference to criticism which, if heeded, might have beneficial results. It is possible that, for the development of character, New Zealand has had too much prosperity. ”

“ But New Zealand has not even that proximity to a continent which made England what she is, for she is twelve hundred miles from her nearest neighbor. In consequence, the New Zealanders have always maintained a strong leaning toward the homeland, whereas in Australia early resentment alienated the settlers. The New Zealander to-day is the exact replica of the Englishman as we knew him; the Australian is a compromise between an Englishman and an American. The modern Australian on the east coast of the continent is as little an Englishman as possible. ”

“ Despite their official obligations to a kingdom, the New Zealanders govern themselves. On questions affecting Great Britain's international and intercolonial interests, imperial authorities are consulted, but otherwise New Zealand is free to legislate and govern as it chooses. ”

“ In one respect, perhaps, the New Zealanders differ from the majority of mankind. As a democracy they have made more of their opportunities. They have run where others walked or wallowed. They have exhibited humanitarianism where others displayed brutality, uncharitableness, or indifference. ”

“ Besides, the New Zealanders include a Maori battalion and of all aborigines of lands where the white races have settled in permanence to build new nations, the Maoris have best accustomed themselves to civilization and are the highest type—a fact which every New Zealander takes as another contributing factor to New Zealand's excellence. ”

“ No doubt whatever can exist as to the relationship of the New Zealanders to the numerous other tribes of the same complexion, by whom nearly all the islands of the South Sea are peopled, and who, in physical conformation, language, religion, institutions, and habits, evidently constitute only one great family. ”

“ They had secreted themselves on board a Whaler, and escaped to New Zealand under the Idea, I suppose, that they should live there in Ease and Independence; but they soon discovered their Mistake, for the Crew of the Vessel having told the New Zealanders that they were Thieves, and had escaped from Sydney, the Natives treated them with the utmost Contempt, and told them that unless they worked they should not eat, and to prevent their being starved they were obliged to labour. When they came on board they were in a most miserable Plight, almost naked and half starved. ”

“ The New Zealanders always travel on foot, one after the other, or in Indian file. Their pathways are not more than a foot wide, which to a European is most painful; but as the natives invariably walk with the feet turned in, or pigeon-toed, they feel no inconvenience from the narrowness. When a traveller is once on the path, it is impossible for him to go astray. ”

“ Colonization would annihilate a great deal of that on the Part of the New Zealanders. If they eat at the Table of Europeans, and mix with them, they easily adopt the civilized Customs; and when their Minds are occupied on the Topics Europeans will bring before them, and when they are fully employed, they will cease to recur to their old Feuds. ”

“ Even those who call themselves respectable, are amongst this number, and one or two, to my certain knowledge, have purchased an immense extent of land for a mere song, depriving the rising generation of all their claims. The New Zealanders are upon the whole, a fine and intelligent race, capable of much if well directed. They are accused of low cunning, and covetousness in their dealings with the Europeans. ”

“ For here we have the New Zealanders, living up to the present century a life of the most primitive simplicity, yet evidently in respect of mere corporeal strength lagging far behind the denizens of a country, where culture and machinery have brought about social changes of such magnitude, as no other civilized people on the globe can show. ”

“ There is still a third class of our countrymen to be met with here, whose downcast and sneaking looks proclaim them to be runaway convicts from New South Wales. These unhappy men are treated with derision and contempt by all classes; and the New Zealanders, being perfectly aware of their state of degradation, refuse all intercourse with them. They are idle, unprincipled, and vicious in the extreme, and are much feared in the Bay of Islands; for when by any means they obtain liquor, they prove themselves most dangerous neighbours. ”

“ Does it give any signs of qualities, physical or mental, tending to distinguish it from Britons, Australians, or North Americans? The answer is not easy. Nothing is more tempting, and at the same time more risky, than to thus generalize and speculate too soon. As was said at the outset, New Zealand has taken an almost perverse delight in upsetting expectations. Nevertheless, certain points are worth noting which may, at any rate, help readers to draw conclusions of their own.
The New Zealanders are a British race in a sense in which the inhabitants of the British Islands scarcely are. ”

“ Hence their effect is partly lost, and when we New Zealanders go "home" for a trip, we find a charm in the time-hallowed landscapes of the Old World, above and beyond all our greater scenic glories here. ”

“ I have always been inclined to think that secular Pursuits have been of Service to the New Zealanders, for they are constantly active, more in Mind than in Body; they must have something to do or they would be thinking of Harm. A Colonization would employ their Minds as well as their Bodies. ”

“ In numberless circumstances the people agree with the tribes who inhabit New Zealand, the Friendly and the Society Islands, and who seem to have had one common origin with them. Their features are very similar, so that the general character may easily be distinguished. Their colour a yellowish brown, most like the hue of the New Zealanders; their art of puncturing, the use of the mulberry-bark for clothing, the predilection for red paint and red dresses, the shape and workmanship of their clubs, the mode of dressing their victuals, all form a strong resemblance to the natives of these islands. ”

“ The New Zealanders seem to be a people perfectly satisfied with the little knowledge they are masters of, without attempting, in the least, to improve it. Nor are they remarkably curious, either in their observations or their enquiries. New objects do not strike them with such a degree of surprise as one would naturally expect; nor do they even fix their attention for a moment. Omai, indeed, who was a great favourite with them, would sometimes attract a circle about him ”

“ The New Zealanders are the most hospitable and generous of people; a stranger, whether native or European, is welcomed into the villages, is furnished with shelter, and provided at once with food. Should the visitor be a relative, or even an intimate friend, they hold all their property in common, and will divide with him everything that they possess. Even if a Maori has earned by long labor some article of property which he was very anxious to possess, he will give it to a relation or friend who meets him after a long separation. ”

“ Notwithstanding the stormy seas by which their islands are surrounded, and the woods, swamps, and rivers, which oppose such difficulties in the way of passing from one place to another through the heart of the country, the New Zealanders are known to be in the habit of making long journeys, both along the coasts in their canoes, and through the interior on foot. ”

“ The New Zealander is not such a materialist as to fancy that a decent share of comfort all round—to be earned by hard work—will insure human happiness. But he is the reverse of an Oriental ascetic, and he does most steadfastly believe that healthful surroundings, good food, good pay, and a fair margin of leisure, give the best chance of happiness to the common workaday person. The notion that New Zealanders, as a people, have as an ideal some elaborate State Socialism may be dismissed. ”

“ For, make no mistake, though the Australians and the New Zealanders might seem alike to the observer as they marched along a road, they are not, as you will find if you talk with them. The New Zealanders have islands of their own, not to mention that the Tasmanians have one, too. ”

“ Of all the savage races with whom England has come in contact in the course of 98her mighty struggles to open trade and raise humanity, the New Zealanders have hitherto proved themselves to be the most susceptible of European civilization. ”

“ Without any desire to give offence, I say boldly that the Australians and New Zealanders are an infinitely better trained, better disciplined, and, therefore, a more useful body of men than was sent by these Dominions to South Africa. ”

“ Success and thrift, courage and skill in taking cover! For the business of a soldier is to do his enemy the maximum of damage with the minimum to himself, as anyone may go on repeating. Probably the remark of the New Zealanders in answer to the commander's praise would be, "Thank you. Why not?" as if this were what the New Zealanders expected of themselves. They take much for granted about New Zealand, without being boastful.
"A blooming quiet lot that keeps to themselves," said a British soldier, "but likable when you get to know them." ”

“ The British Resident will take immediate steps for calling together the native chiefs in order to inform them of this attempt upon their independence, and to advise them of what is due to themselves and to their country, and of the protection which British subjects are entitled to at their hands, and he has no doubt that such a manifestation will be exhibited of the characteristic spirit, courage, and independence of the New Zealanders, as will stop at the outset such an attempt upon their liberties, by demonstrating its utter hopelessness. ”

“ A scarcity of provisions soon followed their arrival, when the New Zealanders fell upon the aborigines, and killed above two hundred for food: the rest they reduced to slavery.
The present population consists chiefly of inhabitants of East Cape and Port Nicholson, and a few turbulent natives of Teranaki. They arrived at Chatham Island, under the command of Hépatou. Since his death, in 1836, they divided into two tribes: the one staid at Wangaroa, under Emnaré, the other established itself at Wai Tangui, with Eitouna, as its chief. ”

“ The natives will soon be open to an engagement on board a vessel, and may expect to emulate the New Zealanders, some of whom have risen to be mates; and to acquire the information and experience of which they stand so much in need. Whereas, were their knowledge confined to their own imperfect dialect, not only would they be unable to extend their acquaintance with other parts of the world, and with the arts of civilization, but they would remain, as many of them now are, actually incapable of communicating with many inhabitants of their own districts. ”

“ Their place is taken by slang. Yet if a nation is known by its slang, the New Zealanders must be held disposed to borrow rather than to originate, for theirs is almost wholly a mixture of English, American, and Australian. ”

“ Another thing which encouraged the New Zealanders, was, they were sensible that a gun was not infallible, that they sometimes missed, and that, when discharged, they must be loaded before they could be used again, which time they knew how to take advantage of. After their success, I imagine there was a general meeting on the east side of the sound. The Indians of Shag Cove were there; this we knew by a cock which was in one of the canoes, and by a long single canoe, which some of our people had seen four days before in Shag Cove, where they had been with Mr Rowe in the cutter. ”

“ Where there is a want of intermediate links, there is certainly no connection; but admitting that all mankind is made up of the same materials, it may be very safely inferred, that the most civilized and best educated European carries about with him the whole chain, betwixt the "narrow views" of the New Zealanders and his own "extended sphere of knowledge." ”