NATIVE FEAST.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 57, 18 May 1844, Page 2

NATIVE FEAST.

The time is not far distant when the present peculiar habits and customs of tho New Zealanders shall, like those of every other country, become tho subjects of the investigation of the antiquary, and the curious. Native feasts and Avar dances will (as more barbarous customs have already done) very quickly disappear before the growing light of civilization and religion ; and the people whose social intercourse is chiefly remarkable for their immense consumption of sharks, eels, cumeras and potatoes, may e 're long be found, like our own country-men, assembled together for the purpose of extending tho knowledge of philosophy, science, and art. The aboriginal inhabitant of New Zealand is at the present time little, if any thing inferior to the painted, or tattooed savages who inhabited our own country in the days of Csesar, and why might "we not as in the case of the other savages, expect that in another generation the sons of tho native chiefs of New Zealand may, like the sons of the ancient Britons, be seen in the streets of the imperial city imitating the customs, assuming the manners, and acquiring the same education as the Patrician youth of the more highly favoured country ? It is no vain speculation to suppose that this may be the case with the New Zealander when we take into account the gigantic pace at which I knowledge is now travelling over the length j and breadth of our earth, and subjecting its j inhabitants to her mild and blessed dominion. The native feast which, took place in the neighbourhood of our capital this day week, | was in itself a scene highly worth seeing, and well calculated to encourage the friends of humanity in the lovely labour of redeem- j ing their fellow -men from the barbarous and cruel yoke of ignorance. Two or three thousand of the Aborigines from various remote districts of the Island have been peacefully assembled together for the last week, for the purpose of still more cementing that friendship and good feeling which their now superior knowledge teaches to be essential to their comfort and happiness. This day week being one of the principal | days of the feast, His Excellency the Gov[ornor, accompanied by several officers of Government, and a number of tho inhabitants of the town, proceeded early in the day j to visit the native encampment. His Excellency and all the Europeans were well received by the Natives, who doubtless considered it a great honor that so much respect should have been paid to them. Each tribe occupied a separate portion of the ground, where temporary huts had been erected for tlieir accommodation ; and His Excellency visited each of them, I shaking hands with the principal chiefs, and j addressing them in short speeches, which were interpreted by the Chief Protector of Aborigines. After these proceedings were over, the natives performed a war dance in honor of His Excellency. To persons who had never witnessed such an exhibition, this must have been the most interesting part of the day's proceedings. ' The hideous yells, the wild distorted looks, i and painted faces, together with the fierce and sudden rush, would give no inadequate idea of what a person might conceive if the inhabitants of Pandemonium itself were let loose upon one another. The most remarkable and tho most gratifying part of the whole scene, was tho vast difference between the natives who are resident near Auckland, and those who came from a distance. The former were dressed in gay and handsome European clothing, while the latter we're nearly naked, or at best, but covered with napkins, or miserable rags of blankets, round the waist, and we understand this circumstance was noticed with some little jealousy by the natives themselves. . The preparations made for the feast were < enormous. A wall of potatoes in baskets; extended nearly for a quarter of a mile, covered on the top with several thousand] dried sharks and dog-fishes. Opposite to this potatoo wall was a shade of the same J length, covered over with the blankets which j wero intended as presents to their guests, j The number of blankets could not be short | of fivo hundred. Some of our English manufacturers would have relished such a sight. . The day and the scene were peculiarly delightful. The natives fixed upon one of the most lovely spots in the neighbourhood of the town for the scene of tlieir festivity. Tho tents and huts occupied a level plain, surrounded by three gently rising hills, from the tops of which the proceedings on the plain could be seen with much advantage. Tho number of the natives who attended the feast was much less than was at one time expected. This arose from a dispute between the tribes regarding the propriety

of permitting the attendance of some native chiefs who a short time since, made their escape from jail. The most of the chiefs with much propriety, insisted that these persons should not be allowed to visit Auckland, and they and their friends, in consequence returned. A considerable number of the Missionaries from the West Coast and the interior of the country, accompanied the natives, and this circumstance doubtless tended much to the. preservation of good order. On the Sunday following a largo number of the natives partook of the Sacrament in the Wesleyan Chapel, where a contribution was made iiTmoncy by the natives themselves, for the purpose of defraying the expense of the wine used ou the occasion. This visit of our Aboriginal friends will, wo have every reason to hope, be attended with good effects, both as regards the Natives and the Europeans.