Page:A voyage round the world, in His Britannic Majesty's sloop, Resolution, commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the years 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (IA b30413849 0001).pdf/255

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two speakers were taken into the cabin, where we learnt the second orator's name was Teiratu, and that he came from the opposite shore of the northern island, called Teera Whittee. They immediately enquired for Tupia (Tupaya), and, like those mentioned p. 206, seemed much concerned, and pronounced some words in a mournful or plaintive voice on hearing of his death. So much had this man's superior knowledge, and his ability to converse in their language rendered him valuable, and beloved even among a nation in a state of barbarism. Perhaps with the capacity which Providence had allotted to him, and which had been cultivated no farther than the simplicity of his education would permit, he was more adapted to raise the New Zeelanders to a state of civilization similar to that of his own islands, than ourselves, to whom the want of the intermediate links, which connect their narrow views to our extended sphere of knowledge, must prove an obstacle in such an undertaking.

Teiratu and all his companions were a taller race of people than we had hitherto seen in New Zeeland, none of them being below the middle size, and many above it. Their dress, ornaments, and arms were richer than any we had observed among the inhabitants of Queen Charlottes Sound, and seemed to speak a kind of affluence, which was entirely new to us. Among their dresses were several cloaks entirely lined with dog-skin, upon which Rh