Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Maoris shared much with the general Polynesian culture. As elsewhere in the Polyne-
sian Triangle, Maoris lived in a highly stratified tribal society. Chiefs and sub-chiefs com-
manded, and commoners obeyed. In New Zealand, war between tribes was common, and
captives and their children became slaves. Everyone within the tribe lived under a rigid
set of rules: who could eat what with whom, including human flesh; who could conduct
religious services; how the gods could be appeased; and if human sacrifice was required,
whose slaves would be picked. Forbidden things and practices were taboo.
Among the first things Cook discovered about the Maoris was that their weapons were
similar to other Polynesians. Polynesians had no metallurgy. Clubs and spears were wood
and bone (whale bone for heavy duty.) On other islands, natives stole metal objects, includ-
ing nails. But Maoris were indifferent to metal weapons and tools. Most Polynesians wore
tattoos. (Four Polynesian words have entered English: tattoo, tabu/taboo, mana, which
means power/the attribute of power, and ukulele, which in Hawaiian means jumping flea.)
The Maori tattoo was special. Sharp stone and bone blades cut the skin, and pigment was
inserted beneath the skin. When healed, face, arms, legs, and backs carried designs marked
out by ridges. Defiance and anger were displayed by foot stamping, by distorting their
mouths, lolling out their tongues and turn… (in) up the whites of their eyes [268] .
Wood was plentiful in New Zealand, and Maoris were gifted carvers. They decorated
their canoes and meeting houses with intricate designs, often totemic representations of
gods and spirits. Chiefs held mana (spiritual power) on behalf of their tribe, and members
of the tribe shared that mana. Places of worship, the marae , were and are gathering places
for sharing mana and other spiritual bonds with members of the tribe. In farming, men dug
the ground, and women planted and harvested. Men hunted and fished; women prepared
the food. Fortified compounds protected villagers against frequent enemy attack.
When the Maoris first arrived, they found a surfeit of protein in the moa, a huge, flight-
less bird up to twelve feet tall, weighing up to 500 pounds. The moa belonged to the same
species (ratites) as the ostrich and the emu. The moa had no natural enemies and was soon
hunted into extinction. [269] But its present-day “cousin,” the tiny Kiwi, lives on as the icon
of New Zealand and the nickname of New Zealanders. Its cry (kee whee) accounts for its
name.
WHAT IS THE TREATY OF WAITANGI?
By the early 1800s, New Zealand had become lawless. Whaling ships (mostly American)
hunted the waters, and men from sealing ships hunted on land. They were joined by es-
caped convicts and ex-convicts from Sydney, along with gamblers, whores, and thieves.
The law of New Zealand was the law of knives and guns. Whites ( paheka ) traded and sold
guns to the Maori, and tribal warfare became deadly. Early colonists bought and tricked
land from the natives, and white-Maori violence spread.
 
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