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/87

 Rh Might not they mean the Wife of a Chieftain?
 * Of course it might be; but she was not the Wife of a Chieftain, but the sole Child of a Chief. She inherited it; and if she married that went to her, just the same as by our own Laws.

Do you know of any Instance of that occurring at the present Moment?
 * There is Riwoa, who I know has married a superior Chieftess and got a superior Quantity of Land. Titare, a Chief of the Bay of Islands, married the Sister of E’Ongi. He was one of the most valiant of the Chieftains. She brought him a vast Quantity of Land and Slaves, and made him a superior Man among his people.

Do you know any Instance of a Woman acting as Chief of a Tribe?
 * Ladies do not like Celibacy in New Zealand.

Do you know any Instance of a Woman acting as Chief of a Tribe?
 * I cannot remember any at the present Moment.

Is there generally a head Chief, with a certain Number of other Chieftains that are second to him in Rank, those second Chiefs having Land of their own?
 * It is so.

Can those second Chiefs sell their Land without the Consent of the head Chief?
 * They can; but it is regarded as an Act of Insult to the principal Chief if he is not allowed to give the Payment from the European to other Chiefs. He reserves nothing for himself.

Who gets the Money if he sells his own Land?
 * If he sells a Portion of his own Land that Land belongs to his Children, generally speaking. I have never bought any Land but that which belonged to a Chief and his Children. The whole of the Payment is given round. A European was purchasing Land once when I was passing the Place, a Chief asked me to land, and I had Three or Four Heads of Tobacco given me, as my Part of the Payment, because I happened to be passing at the Time.

They have told you that the Price was perishable; that the Blankets would be wearing out and the Muskets be of no Use, but that the Land remained; and that if they sold their Land they might be depriving Children they might have after that Sale?
 * No; there was no Occasion to tell me that.

Were they aware that they were robbing their Children of that Land?
 * No. They had fought for it, and obtained it, and made it theirs; but the Children got the principal Payment, and when the Chief has got any thing from me it has been generally some Present afterwards. The Feeling of Pride he has in giving it away gives him more Pleasure than any thing he gets, unless it is a double-barrelled Piece.

A double-barrelled Piece they set a great Value upon, do they not?
 * They do so. I never gave one in exchange for Land. I gave, in addition to the Payment, a Quantity of Trifles; that even the Slaves on the Land, or born on the Land, might say “I have smoked his Tobacco,” or “I have had his Tomahawk.”

During your Residence at the Bay of Islands and the Neighourhood of the Missionary Stations, are you of opinion that the Missionaries have well performed their Duty?
 * Generally speaking, as a Body, I should think they had. Unfortunately there have been some among them who have undone all that was done before. I could mention one Circumstance that would prove that what had been done by well-disposed Men, and perfectly fit for their Calling, had been undone by others.

Are you not of opinion that the Practices of the Europeans in the Bay of Islands may have had some Effect against the Missionaries?
 * Not only may but it has done much against them; but the Conduct of One or Two of their own Body has been such as to undo much they could have done themselves, and to have thrown Dishonour upon their Names.{{nop))

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