Page:Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury 1915.pdf/52

 a conception of the character and behaviour of the Maoris before they came under the influence of the Whites. Such a conception, I venture to say, will be a favourable one; and, if a comparison is drawn with the Maoris of to-day, it will be more favourable still. How much the natives have deteriorated under civilisation can only be estimated by those who have seen them and known them in their primitive state, and have watched them during a period of over sixty years slipping gradually backward in all that makes for virile independence and strength, and skill in woodcraft. In 1843 there were more Maoris on Banks Peninsula than there are at present in the entire South Island.

After the death of Tuhawaiki my father, in common with the other early settlers, had much apprehension concerning the behaviour of the Maoris. Had they cherished any further designs on the lives of the Whites there would have been little to restrain them. However, Providence allayed all doubt in this connection by an epidemic of measles which so ravaged the various kaingas that their ranks were left thin, and the survivors cowed and only too willing to become law-abiding subjects.