A CRUDE CIVILISATION

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 21 (Supplement)

A CRUDE CIVILISATION

Though the advent of Christianity was thus delayed the work of civilisation continued merrily enough through various co-relative channels, all alike rough-and-ready. The discovery of good sealing grounds along the coasts of New Zealand soon attracted a large number of sealers thither, and the intercourse with this Pakeha, flotsam and jetsom of older lands, was at work influencing and educating the Maori nation at all these points of contact afforded by the coastdwelling tribes. Regarded with distrust by the northern tribes, the sealers were warmly welcomed by the South Island Maoris and the tribe« living in the straits. At first though, even here, disputes on the usual topics of property and women were frequent enough, and were met by the sealers with a rough and ready assumption of justice. So astute a people, however, as the Maoris were not long in realising the mutual benefits of peace and co-operation with civilised men. Codfish Island was set apart as a rendezvous for the sealers, who freely intermarried with the Maoris. The indiscriminate slaughter of the seals, however, caused the industry to be short-lived. The report lhat whales resorted in large numbers to the peaceful sounds and bays around the coast during the breading season had the effect of bringing a number of whalers with their crews, and thus the Maoris carried on intercourse and companionship with that reckless, immoral, utterly lawless class of white men, which the advent of the sealers had bo gun. New developments now sprang from Ihe contact of the races. The intermarrying of ihe crews of the whalers with the Maori women, and the number of half-caste children which were soon to be found m every sea-coast kianga, gave, as it were, hostages to peace and identity of interest between the races. Especially as the position of a whaler's wife being somewhat distinguished in Maori circles, it was usually girls of th& besl families who entered into these lelationships, often the daughters of chiefs themselves. The influence of these girls was no doubt good, exercised for peace and friendliness ; but what of the influf nee in turn exercised on them, and through them upon the tribes at- large? In order to realise the impressionable nature of the Maori character we need only recall the picture — undimmed through the dust of ninety years — given by old Taniwha Ho-reta, of tho

dignity and gentle bearing of Kapene Kuku. Keen observation in the case of savage peoples is almost invariably accompanied by close imitation; what, then, was the natural result on the Maori of ever-increasing intercourse with the dregs of European civilisation, cast up by the winds of adventure? No wonder that Marsden's heart often waxed faint within him at these years of waiting as he heard from time to time tales of the license, the vice, and disease which seemed at this time tho white man's only gifts to the brown man !

Tlvjn a new channel of development opened, and speedily became a potent factor in this crude civilisation. The spirit of the Brown Sea-Rover oi" old, long in abeyance, woke ?gan in his descendants. Numbers of young natives shipped among the whaling crews, where they were often selected a= harpooners, from their perfect fearlessness and cont r "iipt of danger. No desire for gain or greed of results actuated th^sc young Maoris — it was dimply the blood of the Brown S^aRover asserting itself — the desire to gauge for themselves th? possibilities of that strange world of which ancient and priestly tradition contained no mention, a world which sent forth such wonders as guns, and ships, and looking - glasses ! Thus they fared forth, and finding

Sydney wonderful, were met always with the depreciatory rejoinder, " Sydney ! You •should see London." So to Lon•don they would go, and in due time returned with a new respect for the Pakeha, a new conception of his greatness, a new and subtle comprehension also of the true status of that erstwhile hero, the sealer and whaler. So the years passed from 1809 to 1813. A MEMORABLE CHRISTMAS DAY. During these four years Marsdan made con-lant efforts to secure the

help of missionary societies in London for the purpos- of fitting i.ut a mission schooner. Wearied by shilly-shillying delays he at last wrote: "Finding that the societ ; es in London could not make up their minds to send out a vessel I at last determined to purchase one for the purpose on my own account. The various 1 expenses attending it have

created me some little pecuniary difficulties, but they arc only known to myself. . . . T hope in a l'ttle while I shall be ablo to surmount tht^n.'" Accord ; ngly in November, 1814, Marsdcn, Kendall, two missionaries, and the needful live stock for a permanent mission station, together with pome workmen, sailed from Sydney in the brig Active. With wonderful insight and sympathy Marsdcn, aided, doubtless, by many a previous long conversation with Ruatara, seized at once the true character and capacity of the people he had come to Christianise. He wrote, home : "They are a much-injured people, notwith standing all that has been advanced against them." To my mind it wa<the subtle conviction of sympathy and understanding with them, no less than the amizuig confidence in their honour which he displayed, that emabWl Marsdcn as a first step to reconcile Hongi with his enemies, the slayers of Te Pchi. His description of the night on which he successfully mediated between the rival tribes is dignified, simple, and most touching : ''The night was clear, the stars were bright, and the sea lay calm before us. Around were innumerable spears thrust upright in the ground, and groups of natives lying in all directions on the era>s I viewed our present situation with sensations that I cannot express; surrounded by cannibals who had massacred and devour ~d our countrymen, I wondered much

at the tnj^steries of Providence. With the Boyd tragedy fr?sh in all men's minds, Marsden showed a nobla confidence in the Maoris which was not lost upon theni. "I was under no apprehension," he says, "for the safety of the vessel, and therefore ordered all on board to go ashore to attend Divino service, except the master and one man. " . . . Christmas Day, 1814, was to be for ever a memorable day in the history of the Maori race. Overhead the folds of the Union Jack canopied the white-robed priests of God; round them spread the wide circle of savages. Listen to Marsden's own words : "A very solemn silence prevailed ; the sight was truly impressive. I rose, and began the service by singing the Old Hundredth Psialm, and felt my very soul melt within me when I viewed my congregation and considered the state they were in." Marsden took for his texi the words, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, ' and the faithful Ruatara joyfully interpreted to his people Shortly afterwards a coasting voyage was undertaken, twentyeight armed Maoris strengthened the litile crew of seven Europeans. A friend of Marsden's who accompanied him wrote : "I do not believe that a similar instance can b, shown of such unlimited confidence placed in a race- of savage*known to be cannibals. We are wholly in tli ir power. . . . Next to the ovor-ruling providence of God there is nothing brt the character of the ship, which seems to have something almost sacred in their eyes, and the influence of Mr Marsden V name, which acts as a talisman among them."