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/29

 Rh You say the Natives have not any thing in the Nature of a native Manufacture of Ropes?
 * They have not what may be called a native Manufactory, but each Person makes Ropes for himself; but at the same Time that they have Ropes of their own they esteem ours superior.

Do not they make remarkably good Fishing Lines; so good that our People here supply themselves with them?
 * The Fishing Lines are very good, and the Fishing Nets also. They make very fine Nets, which they sell to Ships; but their Lines are used on board as Matter of Convenience more than for any particular Purpose; but the Flax is capable of making very superior Lines.

Their Lines are made without their being taught by Europeans?
 * Yes; they make them very well, and very compact.

Have they any Metals?
 * No. They have a Sort of Agate, which they polish and cut into various Shapes, and sometimes they tie it to their Persons. A Piece of that may be handed down from one Generation to another as a Relic of very great Value; if a Chief has received it from his Great Grandfather, or some very great Chief before him, he esteems it, and will not part with it on any Condition.

Have they any thing that supplies the Place of the useful Metals?
 * That is the most like to cutting Instruments.

Would it answer the Purpose of Edge Tools?
 * They make them similar to our Bill-hook or Tomahawk, and they answer various useful Purposes.

Have you ever heard it supposed that there are Mines in any part of the Country; is there any thing showing Mineral Formation?
 * In all the Streams I have crossed on the Island, Iron Ore was found in great Abundance.

But no Attempt had been made to work it?
 * No. The Pyrites of Iron was also very common; but the common Red Ore, the Bicarbonate, was frequently met with; everywhere I went I saw it.

Was there any Sign of precious Metals?
 * I have not seen any. The Cornelian is very common, the Western Side; the Red and White Cornelian; the Red especially.

In buying Land do the Europeans generally seek out the Neighbourhood of Native Settlements, or take it apart?
 * They generally try to find out the best Spot, or the most convenient; sometimes they study Convenience; at other Times the Richness of the Soil.

You have said that in one Instance a Musket was given for clearing; is the Land generally bought quite uncleared?
 * Yes; unless there may be a little Garden of the Natives on the Spot; but in general it is uncleared.

The Missionary Farm at Waimati was bought uncleared; and when I went there there was a Chief, I think of the Name of Rippi, volunteered, with the whole of his Tribe, Men, Women, and Children, to clear the Land for Mr. Davies, in the Expectation of receiving some trifling Present, such as a Gown Piece for the Women.

By clearing, you mean cutting down the Timber?
 * Yes; and getting up the Roots of the Fern, that the Land may be ploughed.

Is the Land thought more valuable for bearing a certain Quantity of Pine upon it?
 * Yes; the Europeans esteem that Land very much, inasmuch as they esteem the Cowrie themselves, and it is found at the same Time that the Leaves and decayed Vegetation make the Surface of the Land very good. In some Parts the Cowrie Forests are very steep; the Hills are not high, but they rise almost from the Brook to the Top of the Hill, at an Angle, perhaps, of Thirty or Forty Degrees; sometimes Forty-five. (123.1.)