A VISIT

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 89, 20 May 1852, Page 3

A VISIT

To one of the Islands in the Bay of Plenty, celebrated and dreaded by the New Zealanders as the residence of the Tuataras, or large Lizards—by a Party of Officers of the 5S.'/< Regiment; to irliich me " added a few notes on tticXalural Jlistorg of the Animals. (From Ilic " Sew Zcalamier," -April VI.) All our natives had Liken coinage nl seeing our succ.s-, and lintl l:iml- d lioni the canoe, and loaded Iheimehcs with the e : jg> an'l young of the oiie-eugcd bird. It was almost dark "he.i we had got all comfortably seateti in the eauo •. The wiini, which had sprung up, was ngain<t os: the niuuh walk in tiv m.riling, and tin- long paddle to the i«laud, made om r turn a difiicult and tedious .'iliair, for the natives foil nslurjj -with the paddles in their hands. A slight shower of rain began to fill, and we now regretted that we trnvelltd on temperance principles—it was the only time, however, we Vyd really reason to do so during the whole of oifr trip. A little grog would have deferred the natural sleep for n few hours, have given fresh strength to the inc-ii, and got us to land by tell o'clock ; as it wrs, it was almost dawn before we reached Wakatune, nnd gut safely over the numerous, rocks which are found at the month of the river, i Tired with padillinu', we threw onr bl.inktts '■ I t us, and fell instantly asleep. It iriigdt ubout six o'clock in the morning when we were awoke by a loud shriek bom at least n hundred Alaories. Tltis made us sprig to our feet, and put our heads out of the tent to find what the row was about. To our astonishment, wo saw a crowd ol" men, women nml children, scampering oil' as last a* their legs would cany them in nil directions. We thought they were all mad, or the earth had ojlfcued in the midst of them' The cause of the distuibanrc waa thU'J'he object of our visit to the isiand had spread over all the settlement, and ns wo did not

return fit siiu-dovr >. llu siip-r.tilious ones thought we ha'l l»;-c-.i ('. vonrid liy the lizmls. At daylight, therelore, ll:c natives collcc'.il tnd wailed on nur le'low-ltav.Her to cmpi'ie if wc had arrived, :uul to hear our story. Seeing ,i hox careful y lied up with (1 tx close 10 tin: lout door, one of taeui u]i"ii>*<! i', mid ■mt rushed n Tuiliia: the shriek* mid • lUpi'i'iiiin already de-cribc I wit? produced hy tliis cause. In :i short li:ili.' tnnst of ihrm returned, .Hid we showed llicm what harmless animals the Tuawr.is wore. One of ihc I'uropt an si ttlers at Wak'.tane is a monkey, lie is tilt- pmpci.y id" almost ihe oldest IHtiropcaii inhabit.mt ili Ni'W Zetland ; and, a< these animals aio pinveib al lor hi'iiiij k ;en observers of mankind and animals, tve bad a tied, lo the tail ol'ihc. liwlii-st and largest li:-.ard, and introduced it to the inonkev. It was a curious scene. The monk y w ilkcd round and round the lizard : he locked at his fact; and then at his crested tr-il j every time ihccirclc nt which lie kept diminished. It Will rvid lit he had nev-r been presented lo such an animal I>. fore.. Like a child, just I) 'e.iiimn.; to dwcriiniaaic nhj-jcts, ho was anxious lo Much the- li/.aul ; a! 1:1-1 he got coma;,"-, and placed his hand «>n the tip id the Tu'lira's tail, the animal • accoidieif to cii<toin. pave a twin imii.il, and looked ihe monkey in the lac ■ This win enough. Jucco "bounded to to? top ■ I' his pole like a Hash ol lithium;:, and ihere rim.iincd with all (lie Mgns of terror deoicled oa his coiinteiiaiice. lie Was it hinve monkey; had lived long wiih a chain round his bn.lv ; and hid spent the early part <>( his civilized life on hoard a man-of-war, where the young sailor hoys had tauulit him lhn art of self-defence, lie iv.is a mairh for .my dog in (dl the U'akatntie river, and tlie (h liyli', and terror ol* nil the little urchins of the Ngatiawa*. Notwithstanding all this, tins hideous and repulsive appearance of the lizard struck him wiih terror. J.icco, we. were told was an epicure, so we placed a favorile dish ofhii close ti (he inoiiih o[ the lizard, The dread of ilenlli, or rather the love of life, triumphed over the gratification of the palate. He merelv eyed tin: food wiih much the same expression as a hungry Echoiillviv looks at the tarts in a confectioner's shop. In ahout four minutes saw ihe lizard drop his eyelids over his eyes. This was eunuch. There was lioi a luom-nl to he lost : down the poh: J»iero >te/ lihily stole and, with a quietness which would not have distill bed a liious'-, lie grasped the food from under die jaws of llf Ji;;ard and retreated, chiilt' rintr in the greatest il, light, to the lop of his I oh", where lie devoured his cleverly won meal with great gusto. .Alter ahout an hour, Mr .laeeo saw that thi-re was nothing in In- dreaded from the lizaiil, and he treated hi.n wiih comi'inp', not thai he attempted lo vide on hi-i ha- k, or pull his tail, so long as we were there.

VVii had now pol the lizards, l)iit, alas ! no native could lie ]um-iirftl lor love, tobacco or liioiu'V lo cairv "li'-in : wo Iheri-lbic left them at W'akatane to he lorwardoil lo Auckland by llip first European Vessel : —no Mauri craft w.mltl have an\tiling in do with ili-m.

It was Willi consult t..1>1 • regret ihat wo 'oft Wakatnne. We were a'l :in\it u i to stop nnnlner day, bin our ni'ii li'» li'i'e u is nearly nut, and w • liail a b>n_- journey before u<: so mi the lj)ih Di-ceiulii r, we w: re le.ryul nciovs Ihe U'..kaln:e lifer, and «l'ti r larcwill to (nir kintt friend-, the .Mcssr*. Vulloons, we cuiiiinciicvil our dreary inarch over I In.- long sandy beach which liis b;lwv,n Wakulanc ami .Manila. M'u siw a sh rk almost diivoii on shore hv a lar.se wave, ••ill with thi-: exception there Has lio'liM:; to amuse us. The sheds on the >li:i>e iv.-rc all known to our cuiu'liiiliviist. We looked in vain to see what is s.vd lo hi; s-.'cii on ilie hard sand be'wein Onoiiki and Wakatant—i green and whi'o penguin, the Koioio, (s/i//e-------iititciis miiioi) taking a pi|ii shell lo n greit height, from whence it h-ls it hill mi tin- lieaeh and then U -c -nil- i:-e!l lo |>ii-fc out llio flesh froai the broken i'i-.i-jih ni* of ilie shell. *n, for want ol something b.uer lo do, we amused oiirselvia by observing the impression which our iiii'ive*' leet made im the soft sand of the sen-shore ; and \vc c.niie to ilie coiielusiou that a great number ol New '/ealamleis are ll.it footed—liiat their Oil arc short ami bro.nl —that til; y turn in their to-s —that a luuopeau cannot walk with ease in the path or fools cps of ii Maori—ami that they are slimier legged, and take shorter steps, llian ihe majority of Kiuopeaus. Ahcr tins.philosophical deduilions weie arrive I a', we llinuuht that an accouot ol our visit t > toe TuilaiM I»|. ills i-.i'!'lit prove amusing and insnuetivc lo tin; iNew /.. a'a-nl-jis Unfortunately, it was out of our line of country lo compose, so we talked along the sand, and wrote down in one of our mite-books wlial was said wheil we rested ourselves. It ur.ule a long road short ; and we hope it may he inserted in the native ir.-ivpaper, anil thus nss : st in removing an ignorant supers'ilion from the minds of lire New Zealand raee. On our return lo Auekland, ihe following notes on the natural history of the Tunl ita>

weie made. Of the h..x ■ f Tualaras we lef 1 at Whkatano only three reached Auckland alive ; some had died, others had escaped, and tlie large ones, we were told, had eaten up the smill ones. Afr. Gray, of the rSrili«h Museum plarcs the Tuatnra in. the order Samia (I'am. Aqnmidce and names it the Kalteria punclnla. I< is )[■■> gigantic lizard alluded to hy Captain Poole ; —few specimens have been sent lo Knuland. DiefFenbarh states that he hail great diflieulty in procuring a specimen, although he nfli-rcd large rewards, and ivns nlivays looking lor one; at last he pot one from the laic Dr, Johnson, Colonial Surgeon, Auckland, w'ich was procured from the Rev. W. Stark, Tnuranga. The Niirara is alinut eighteen or twenty inches long. One was seen, hut not raught, whi-li must have been two fret. It is four inches round the chrst, and weighs, when in condition, about sixteen ounces. Like the rdinnifc'eon, its colour varies j when seen on the island they were of a dark olive colour, with many white points on their backs ; now, in confinement, they are more of a lisht black colour. The who'e body is covered with scales of diili-nnt shapes and sizes j those on the hack of the animal are small, those, on die under part of the animal are small under the mouth, larger and squarer on the trunk round on the pelvis, and lons thin on the tail. Head, quadrangular ; forehead, low ; expression of face, mild but stupid. A soft but sharp crest inns from the head to the apex of the tail along the back ; it is however interrupted on the neck and over the pelvis:—The head and dorsal crests are white, sometimes olive; those on the tail are less prominent, and dark hrovrn The skin is loose and is thrown into folds : a large pouch is found under the lower jaw, which I never saw distended. They have four legs, with five toes very partially webbed ; on each loe there is a sharp claw. The t'ingue is flat, broad, and fleshy ; the point is free. In the lower jaw there are 28 small rounded pyramidal-shaped teeth; in the upper jaw there are 26. The two front teeth in the upper jaw are large and prominent; the back tfeth have a groove between them, into which groove the single range of teeth in the lawer jaw fall when the teeth are closed. The eyes are large, prominent, and are furnished with eyelids : (lie iris is much the same colour as the body, the pupil is dark, and in a bright light looks like a slit mado with a knife ; it if sensible to light. The flesh of the animal is white, and has a fish-like smell. The spinal cord is large, and extends to the apex of the tail. The animal has considerable sensibility ■—it has been seen to raise its forehand to drive off" a fly. They hear perfectly : when not very torpid, a little noise makes them open their eyelids. They can run with considerable rapidity even up a straight wall. The sight appears to he tolerably acute, but the eye can he touched with a blunt body without producing winking. Respiration is effected by lungs which are large, and exteii into the abdomen ; the ribs are elevated and depressed on each expiration and inspiration. '1 heie is Creat variety in the nnmber of respirations in a minute; during the heat of the day, when the animal was running about, I counted 20 respirations in a minute —when asleep at night, eight or ten. One was kept under water for a considerable time, and it appeaiod quite comfortable, and was perfectly lively when brought up, but respiration through the mouth did not take place when under water. When some of the animals were caught they made a sound as if clearing their nostrils by a forced expiration—a low hiss. They make no attempt to bite, although they twist their heads round as if they were about (o do so, but they scratch very severely with their claws. I p'it a thermometer into the mouth of one to see the temperature, and he bit it in two parts. They can remain a long time food, but I have seen food pass through one in two hours. The Maories tay they live on roots, leaves, seaweed, shell-fish, eggs, &c, —two were kept alive for a long time on boiled potatoes. They eat their young. In the box wo left at Wnkafane there wers at least twenty lizaids from three to six inches lorjg; day by day, the European who had charge of them said, they decreased in number ; there was no wuy of escape, and he found th» points of the tails of the young ones in the box. They appear to like water: Tuatara escaped from the box, and almost every night it was seen t'> vi*il an open well when the ground about was damp hut I never saw them drink water, and the island where they live must he often days without fresh water. When thrown into water they swim readily, but they try to get out as, quickly as possible. They evidently burroiv in the ground. I have seen on scratching a hole in the sand of the box with its fore claws. Two Tuataras could never be got lo The Waories say they lay eggs, hut none were seen on the island. Several young uer.- ■ :iu Ist as V tli'v wer.- jus h iiclnd ; tl ey uere • ill -.liapt-ii, tire.- or lour inches i"i.g, «.>.-i. jhiu, and liruwi.iih "bile cul.nr; there was then no crest on the back. They are not cowards: their means of deluue

appear to rest 0:1 llieir hiiU'Oiis appearance, tlie cold slimy sensation which their bodies f>ivc c>nl, aiiiltlnir claws. A great part ol their life is passed in s'c"p. The Monies say they bnsk in the sun in the day time, and retire to their holes at night. A fire lighted ;it night at'rncts tlicin fro:n their holes, and they crowd round it. Heat makes them lively cold, stupid and sleepy. The temperature of the surface of the .skin is a degree below the temperature of the air. A thermometer well down the ilirnat, rnss two degrees above the temperatuie of the nir. Tunlaras nrc said to have been very mimerous formerly on the mainl.iitd of the North Island of New Zealand. This statement rests on tradiion, and from their remains hnvinn been found on Mount Eden, near Auckland. We. were told at Tcraivera, near the centre of the i-land, that, they are sometimes seen in rocky places, and one cave was pointed out where a lars»e one was said to live. In the valley of the Mokau Hiver similar holes are pointed out, but no Kuropean Ims, I believe, ever seen them on the mainland. At present they are only known to exist on a few small rocky island* in the Bay of Plenty and in the Gull of llauraki. The extinction of these animals from the mainland may be attributed to nud pigs—to the latter animal they would fall au easy prey and afford a pleasant tepast. Wherever pigs are found Tuatoras are not found. In the large island off the mouth of the Wakatane Hiver, called Moutoliora, Tunlaras were formerly numerous, but since pigs have been put on it they are now only found 011 the high and almost inaccessible parts of the Island. In .South America, pii's have proved very destructive to all the snak s in the country. Tuatnras, we were told, were formerly used hs food by somo tribes, hut I never met with a New Zealmder who had made a meal of one.

Tuataras belong to ilie same order of animals ns those which have produced mi much interest among geologists, for having existed in the world before the emu ion of man, and for having been swept away from the earth'thousands of years before the human race stood upon it. Tuataras somewhat resemble the lizards figured on the ancient monuments of the Egyptians. The nwe and terror in which they are held by the New Zenlanders may in some degree be produced by the superstition that the lizard is the favourite form which the spirits of the dead nssume on visiting the earth, and most races of men have an instinctive dtend of this order of animals. In all age 3 fabulous stories have been related, and more particularly in linslcrn writings, about the ravages which this order of animals have produced. In China,a dragon isthenationalemblem. In England we have the lamous history ol S . George and the Dragon. The New Zealanders have their stories of large animals in the shape of Tuataras, oiled Taniwhns, living in caverns and destroying travellers, against which monsters war parties were sent, and the brave deeds done on such occasions still live in the songs and traditions of the people.