A SOURCE-BOOK OF N.Z. HISTORY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 4

A SOURCE-BOOK OF N.Z. HISTORY

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Narrative of a Residence in New Zealand. Journal of a Residence in Tristan da Cunha. By Augustus Earle. Edited by E. H. McCormick. The Clarendon Press. 270 pp.

The publication of thia book amounts to nothing less than the rediscovery of something rare and valuable in the literature relating to early New Zealand. First published in England in 1832, Earle’s account of Us New Zealand experiences was—according to Dr. McCormick—“a traveller’s tale to its first public." It was widely reviewed at the time, and the reception accorded it in some of the leading contemporary journals is described in Dr. McCormick’s introduction. One reviewer was quick to observe “the disparity between the book’s title and the dates supplied by Earle himself’ concerning the length of Us sojourn in this country. For, whereas on the evidence of Us narrative Earle spent barely six months here, the title which his book bore (and which is reprinted

on page 47 of the present edition), was “A narrative of Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in 1827. . . .”

In his introductory section on “the New Zealand background” to this work, Dr. McCormick reminds the reader that in “the constant tribal bickerings” that troubled northern New Zealand at that time, the very lives and possessions of the missionaries and other European settlers were in the hands of whichever tribe afforded these people protection. In the very year of Earie’s visit, though prior to his arrival, a party of Hongi’s warriors had destroyed the Wesleyan Mission station at Kaeo and had driven the missionaries out During Earle’s residence at Kororareka, once more a threatened invasion by Hongi threw that place into a state of alarm.

Later when the same chief, suffering from a grievous wound, came on a friendly visit to the Bay of Mauds, Earle had the pleasure of meeting him and was permitted to make a sketch of the chief, seated as he then was with his family and friends on the beach about a mile from Kororareka. A coloured reproduction of Earie’s painting based on the sketch appears as a frontispiece to tire present book. To study it in conjunction with the relevant passage in the narrative (pages 88 and 89) is to realise bow difficult it to to separate the artist from the writer to Earie.

There are passages hi his book which have the studied arrangement of a pantomime. The following description of a party of armed wanton parading the beech in mock battle at Kororareka will serve as an example:—

Th* foreground wai formed by * line of naked savages, each retting on one knee, with musket advanced; their gaze fixed on the opposite party; their Sue broad unucular backs contrasting with the dark foliage In front, and catching th* glaam of th* rising sun. Ths strangers were clothed In the most grotesque manner Imaginable; some armed, some naked, some with lang beards, other* were painted all over with red ochre; every part of each figure was quite still, except the rolling and glaring of the eye* on their opponents . . .

At the same time there is a vitality and warmth in this

book which owes no little of Ms impact to the author’s personal involvement in the events narrated. So closely did he identify himself with the Maoris with whom for the time being he bed thrown in his lot, sharing their quarters and learning their language, that his account of their life and customs, and of their industry and social organisation is something mote than a traveller’s tale. As Dr. McCormick rightly observes, “it has long held the status of sourcebook and

anthropological record.” The chief under whose protection Earie placed himself when he came to live in Kororareka in December, 1827, was Te Whareumu—or King George as he styled himself. With him and with other chiefs Earie frequently discussed the desirability of “erecting a small fort with a British garrison” at the Bay of Islands, and of “permanently hoisting the English flag”—an idea, he maintains, which always met with their delighted approval. Considering that British sovereignty was still twelve years off,

Earie’s sounding out of Maori opinion on the subject at this stage shows him in the guise of an ambassador before his time.

Earie states that he “freueutiy conversed with George upon the subject of religion,” and that from these discussions he learned that “the natives had not formed the slightest idea of there being a state of future punishment.” Confirmatory evidence of this is contained in the journal of the Rev. James Stack, a Wesleyan missionary whom Earie met soon after arriving in New Zeeland Stack’s journal records that when he talked with two Hokianga chiefs about "the fire of Hell,” one of them dismissed the notion with a laugh of derision and exclaimed: “You missionaries

are a set of old women.”

Earie’s unfair charges of coldness and a want of hospitality, levelled against the Anglican missionaries, are shown to have been quite unwarranted by Dr. McCormick, whose editing of this book is a model of thorough and sensitive workmanship. The “biographical sketch” with which Dr. McCormick’s introduction begins to based on an Intense piece of research; and the footnotes to the introduction reflect his dose examination of contemporary manuscripts. Some of these, belonging to the Church Missionary Society, could be consulted only fa Tasini up till a few years ago, but may now bo seen on microfilm at the Alexander Ttrobuli Library, Wellington.

When this book was first published, a review in the London "Spectator" said of ft that-it contained “a more ample view of the character and manners of the New Zeelanders” (Le. of the Maoris), than could be found "in any other single publication." Hew weU it has stood the test of time! Dr. McCormick gave and Art in New Zealand,” published by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs in IMO. Now, after a careful re OMeement of the book, and taking into account its manifest shortcomings, he stiH ranks its author as “second only to Marsden” among “contemporary dwotd-

den of pro-Eurcpean New Zeeland.”

By a happy coincidence ft was in 1982, thnt-to one hundred years after Earie’s book made Ms flirt tost there were pubMsbed “The Utters and Journals of Samuel Marsden,” edited by Professor J. B. Eider. In some respects Marsden'S towresstons of the Maori were little different from Earie’s, for he too had adjudged them to be “a noble race of men . . . very reUgkous in their wey . . . and powerful reaeoners upon every isubject that has come wMhta their knowledge." His "Letters end Journals” are anorooctateiv included in the bibUograpty appended to the work under review.

At tire end of (he book there are atoo several of Earie’s watercolours reproduced, all but one of them in monochrome. In the index to thia book the subject heading, “New Zealanders” is used instead of "Maoris”—with a “see” reference from the latter, thereby reflecting Earie’s usage. The word

' “Maori” hod not yet come into um in hto time. ft remains to take brief . critical notice of tire autbor*s : Tristan da Cunha joorcft ; Eerie was on hto way from , Rfo de Janeiro tothoOflipa ’ iMyaffiSSraUS , at Wotan da Cunha. While , ft was loading • supply of , potatoes, Eerie went ashore to do some sketching. Three days later, much to Us con- ; cternatton, the ship continued her voyage without hftn; and for the next eiffht months ha remained on this desolate, stonnewept island. Its few taheUtente <MdaH they could to make hftn comftrtnblm and he for his pert entered into their life, sharing their simple joys and becoming one of them. Cultivated gentleman that be was, he had not long been on the island before he was “unanimously appointed chaptain.” He also acted as “schoolmaster to the elder rhilrtrftn." Earle kept a constant lookout for passing ship* that might call and take him on his way; but their coming M near from time to time without stopping kept him in a state of tantalising suspense. To read the journal of his experiences while thus ' marooned is to follow its author into the haunts of. penguin, albatross and seaelephant and also to obtain a really rounded picture of the raw sort of life to which the island’s inhabitants had become reconciled. Like Earie’s New Zeeland narrative, this top is an intensely human document. One’s only regret in laying ft aside is that it had not been longer—es it i well might have Men had not the author run out of writing paper after three months on the island.. How he also wore j out bis shoes and was reduced to wearing trousers made of ; sail doth and goat’s skin is another story, best left to the reader to discover. Four of Earie’s paintings of Tristan de Cunha are reproduced in monochrome in this edition of his book which contains also a list of his printings and drawings in the National Library of Australia’s Nan Kivell Collection.