Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/25

 Rh You have spoken of an Outrage committed on the House of a Resident; might not that Outrage have been caused by the Natives feeling that the Resident did not protect them against the Depredations of the British Residents?
 * It might be so; it was not known at that Time what was the Cause; the Party was not known at that Time, but I understood afterwards it turned out that it was one of the Chiefs. I have not heard since what was the Cause, but I understand he has abandoned the Bay in consequence of that Affray being made known.

Have they any Medical Treatment for the Venereal Disease?
 * None that I have seen.

If that Disease is allowed to continue in the State in which you say it was, that not One out of Fifty Women was free from it, will not that have the Effect of very much deteriorating the Population of that Country?
 * Without Doubt; for the Venereal Disease weakens the Constitution. I do not know of any Disease that weakens it more.

And it has a very great Effect on the Health?
 * Yes; and other Diseases are produced by it.

May not that be the Cause why the Natives of New South Wales are so much deteriorated from what the New Zealanders are?
 * No. I should fancy that the natural Formation of their intellectual Powers is not so high as that of the New Zealanders.

Do they taboo Lands now when they sell, and put up a Pole to mark the Boundaries?
 * I have not known an Instance of that, further than that they put up a Pole to show the Natives that it is sold to the English People. I should understand by the Taboo, making it sacred; that is their Acceptation of the Word. If a Part is tabooed, no Person, on pain of Death, is allowed to enter that Spot; whereas the Natives can traverse the Land sold like any other Spot.

Tabooing was a Superstition originally?
 * Yes; and to keep the Remains of their Chiefs, I apprehend, sacred, they put the Remains of their Chiefs on their tabooed Ground; and no one is allowed to touch that Ground. They are as safe there as if they were under a Guard of Soldiers.

Who has the Power of tabooing in that Country?
 * The principal Chief.

Not a second-rate Chief?
 * No; he may perhaps taboo a Spot in the Absence of the Principal, but he must confirm it when he returns.

Do you know of any Instance in which a Chief has punished a Native for entering Grounds which were tabooed?
 * No; but I have known an Instance of a Chief punishing a Native for entering Grounds on which there were Crops; they invariably shut them up during their Potato Season, and no Native is allowed to go in except to clear up the Ground and hoe the Potatoes; and again, they must not have the Taboo taken off before the Potatoes are dug from the Ground.

What was the great Article of Trade in those Islands when you were there?
 * With regard to the Shipping, Flax was the greatest Article of Trade; the other Ships merely put in to refresh.

Where does the Flax go to?
 * To Sydney chiefly; it grows very luxuriantly in the marshy Grounds.

Is it cultivated?
 * No; it grows spontaneously. The Blossom of the Flax is very full of Nectary.

What was their Opinion of your Profession; did they consider that you had a supernatural Power of healing Diseases, or that it was in consequence of the Study of the Art?
 * They consider it now to be the Consequence of Study; perhaps they might

(123.1.)