Some Account of New Zealand/Chapter 9
Chap. IX.
The inhabitants of this part of the world are by no means unskilled in arts and manufactures: among the former is their cultivation of the ground. This, it is true, is confined to the growth of one vegetable, but in which they are remarkably successful: I allude to potatoes; and indeed I never met with that root of a better quality: they keep remarkably well, and we provided a stock of them sufficient to supply the whole ship's company for several months.
And here it may not be improper to remark, that in my opinion no kind of food taken to sea has a greater tendency to preserve the health of a ship's company, or to recover it from the effects of a long voyage. I think I have observed more benefit derived in cases of scurvy from eating the root raw with vinegar, than from any other remedy: it appears to be most efficacious if taken in the morning fasting.
I could not learn when they first became possessed of this invaluable root; they have, however, had some opportunities of changing their seed, which has been of great advantage to them. Cutting is not in practice, the smaller potatoes being always preserved for seed.
Their cultivation has hitherto been attended with considerable disadvantages, owing to the want of proper implements: the only mode of turning the soil being with a wooden spade; but as the soil is light, this impediment is not so great as might be imagined.
Their potatoe inclosures are not planted with European regularity, but they are productive, and do no discredit to their owners.
Though the natives are exceedingly fond of this root they eat them but sparingly, on account of their great value in procuring iron by barter from European ships that touch at this part of the coast. The utility of this metal is found to be so great, that they would suffer almost any privation, or inconvenience, for the possession of it; particularly when wrought into axes, adzes, or small hatchets: the potatoes are consequently preserved with the greatest care against the arrival of a vessel. Their mode of preserving them is upon a platform, erected upon a single post, about ten feet in height.
The mode of bringing potatoes to the ship is in small baskets, made of the green native flax, and of various sizes, containing from eight to thirty pounds weight. In dealing for this article the natives make as good a bargain as they possibly can, adding to your demand one small basket at a time, of the value of which they endeavour to convince you they are perfectly aware; and in some instances they will trick you out of a basket or two in handing them on board, with all the dexterity of a Jewish or Christian dealer.
I believe they usually have two crops in the year, and I have not heard that they ever fail from accidental causes.
The potatoe is the only vegetable cultivated by the natives; they have had the seed of several others, but as they are found ill calculated for trade, they have been neglected.
The diffusion of cabbage seed has been so general over this part, that you would suppose it an indigenous plant of the country.
Nature has spared them the trouble of cultivating their favorite haddawai, or fern, as it is found every where in great abundance.
The next art I shall speak of, as subservient to the purposes of existence, is their modes of catching fish; but as they do not differ from those in use amongst the natives of other islands of the pacific ocean, it will not be necessary to dwell upon them, or detail them minutely. The larger fish are sometimes speared, but the usual method of taking them, of all sizes, is by means of nets and hooks.
The nets are composed of line formed of the native flax, and are large, and well adapted to the purposes for which they are intended.
The hooks are formed of the outer rim of the ear-shell, well polished, and barbed at the extremity. The line is of flax, and of great strength and durability: their quality indeed is so excellent, that it is desirable to obtain some of them for the purpose of taking bonetas, albicore, or dolphin, on the passage to Europe. The natives will receive our fish-hooks in exchange for them.
The fish-hook, whether native or European, they call mattow.
The bait made use of is usually a limpet, or a piece of raw fish; and from the great dexterity of the fishermen, and the vast quantity of fish, with which this harbour abounds, the natives of this part are most abundantly supplied with this excellent article of food.
When speaking of the dexterity of the fishermen, I should have mentioned that of the fisherwomen also; for the women here are as expert at all the useful arts as the men, sharing equally the fatigue and the danger with them upon all occasions, excepting war; in which, though they undergo considerable fatigue, they do not participate in the danger.
I have commenced my account of the arts in New Zealand with those relating to the means of procuring food, as being the primary consideration in savage life; and as it will be understood, that the natives in general are abundantly supplied, it will be proper in the next place to say some thing of their culinary operations.
Roasting and broiling are the common modes of cooking in most uncivilized countries; they are much in use here: but they have a method of dressing fish that struck me as rather uncommon, and therefore I shall describe it. The fish being cleaned, is enveloped in a quantity of leaves of the cabbage, and bound about with tendrils; it is then laid upon a stone that has been previously heated, upon which it is occasionally turned, so that the steam extricated from the leaves serves the purpose of boiling water. The leaves being taken off, the fish is found to be well cooked and unbroken. I have tasted them cooked in this manner by the natives, and thought them excellent. They probably would not have recourse to this method, had they any way of boiling water among them; but, however, it is an admirable substitute. The greens forming the immediate covering of the fish are eaten with it. Potatoes are also cooked in the same manner.
As salt, or other savory substances, are not in use among the natives, they are not excited to eat more than their natural appetite prompts them to do; but perhaps this is a fortunate circumstance, as were any means employed to increase it, abundant as the supply of food is in this part, it would not prove equal to the demand.
The dog, as an article of food, is, I believe, always roasted, and is esteemed good eating; indeed, as it is an animal that is, in this country, not an unclean feeder, I see no reason why it should not be considered so, particularly as it is almost the only animal food to be obtained.
Thus it will appear that the operations of a New Zealand kitchen are few, and exceedingly simple, but they accomplish the principal object of all cookery, the action of fire upon the food; and though they would not please the palate of an European, the natives here are perfectly well satisfied with them, and rise from their meal with as much chearfulness as an alderman, and with much more activity.
Intimately connected with the arts which the natives of New Zealand employ to procure subsistence, is that of making their canoes, as their fish is chiefly taken in them.
Their canoes are formed of the trunk of a fir tree, hollowed out by the adze, and usually raised upon by a plank of a foot broad on each side: they are of various dimensions, from thirty to sixty feet in length, and upwards, and from two feet six inches to more than five feet broad; sharp at each extremity, and about three feet deep, including the plank before-mentioned. This plank is united to the body of the canoe by ligatures, and a quantity of rush or flax placed in the seam, so as to answer the purpose of caulking. Their war canoes are ornamented with carving and painting, and many of them are really very handsome. These will contain upwards of thirty warriors, and they sometimes lash two of them together. Ten or fifteen of these double canoes must form a powerful fleet, and would prove formidable to an European merchant ship.
The common canoes are seldom more than about thirty feet in length; these sometimes contain two families, that come off to the ship for the purpose of trade.
There is usually a division in the canoe, formed of wattle, to prevent the dealings of the two families from interfering with each other. They are also provided with nets, hooks, and lines, as an almost inseparable part of their equipment.
Paddles are universally made use of, and from the great strength and activity of the natives, the canoe is impelled forward with uncommon velocity: a large stone supplies the place of an anchor.