The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2: Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristicsWood, J. G. (John George)
History
The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2: Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics
Wood, J. G. (John George)
Anthropology; Ethnology; Manners and customs
Formerly the native dog used to be much eaten; but as the species has
almost entirely been transformed by admixture with the various breeds
of English dogs, its use, as an article of food, has been abandoned.
Pigs are almost the only mammalia that are now eaten; but they are not
considered as forming an article of ordinary diet, being reserved for
festive occasions. The pork of New Zealand pigs is said to surpass that
of their European congeners, and to bear some resemblance to veal. This
superiority of flavor is caused by their constantly feeding on the fern
roots. In color they are mostly black, and, although tame and quiet
enough with their owners, are terribly frightened when they see a white
man, erect their bristles and dash off into the bush.
We now come to the question of cannibalism, a custom which seems to
have resisted civilization longer in New Zealand than in any other
part of the world. In some places cannibalism is an exception; here,
as among the Neam-Nam of Africa, it is a rule. An illustration on
the next page represents a cannibal cooking-house, that was erected
by a celebrated Maori chief, in the Waitahanui Pah. This was once a
celebrated fort, and was originally erected in order to defend the
inhabitants of Te Rapa from the attacks of the Waikato tribes. Both
these and their enemies having, as a rule, embraced Christianity,
and laid aside their feuds, the pah has long been deserted, and will
probably fall into decay before many years have passed. Mr. Angas’
description of this pah is an exceedingly interesting one.
“Waitahanui Pah stands on a neck of low swampy land jutting into the
lake, and a broad, deep river, forming a delta called the Tongariro,
and by some the Waikato (as that river runs out again at the other end
of Tampo Lake), empties itself near the pah. The long façade of the pah
presents an imposing appearance when viewed from the lake; a line of
fortifications, composed of upright poles and stakes, extending for at
least half a mile in a direction parallel to the water. On the top of
many of the posts are carved figures, much larger than life, of men in
the act of defiance, and in the most savage posture, having enormous
protruding tongues; and, like all the Maori carvings, these images, or
waikapokos, are colored with kokowai, or red ochre.
“The entire pah is now in ruins, and has been made tapu by Te Heuheu
since its desertion. Here, then, all was forbidden ground; but I eluded
the suspicions of our natives, and rambled about all day amongst the
decaying memorials of the past, making drawings of the most striking
and peculiar objects within the pah. The cook houses, where the father
of Te Heuheu had his original establishment, remained in a perfect
state; the only entrance to these buildings was a series of circular
apertures, in and out of which the slaves engaged in preparing the food
were obliged to crawl.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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