During a long cycle of years, upon the land called New Zealand, there were no inhabitants more powerful than gigantic eagles and moas, enormous birds now extinct. At some indeterminate time men landed upon these desolate shores; being, doubtless, unable to return to their point of departure, and, perhaps, finding the country an asylum, they remained there. They were Melanesians, men of dark color, and of coarse hair, like those who inhabited the archipelago in the western part of the Pacific, put down upon the maps as Melanesia.
Later came people from Polynesia, of whom all tradition is lost. At a time, the date of which can be approximately fixed, some canoes reached this land whose occupants declared that they came from Hawaïki, probably Hawaii. Afterward, in the first relations of the Europeans with these inhabitants, they were quickly satisfied that the leading races were of Polynesian origin, though in some parts all the races were so intermingled that it was hard to distinguish them. These better developed classes were known under the name of the Maoris. These people, full of treachery, robbers without shame, barbarians of a remarkable intelligence, able to construct fishing utensils, fine canoes, implements of warfare, and even to sculpture rude figures and to design ornaments which indicated a certain artistic taste, inclined to observation enough to attach a name to all objects which fell under their notice, appeared to the first European voyagers to their land as a people that could be easily civilized.
They were in general of tall figure, and had regular features; their small, jet black eyes were always in motion. According to an artist who has traveled nearly round the world, the young men would serve well as models for a statue of Hercules. The women were well formed, had beautiful eyes and an abundance of black hair. Their faces looked quite intelligent, and even possessed a certain grace.
Former explorers tried to find out what religious sentiments, what superstitions, reigned among these people; they sought to gather up their traditions. Owing to their idiomatic language the information was derived slowly and only after great effort. In the midst of a people presenting the spectacle of primitive life it is impossible not to take a lively interest in their belief touching the origin and the final destiny of man. Many of their ideas on these subjects present a striking similarity to those prevailing among civilized people.
They have a long mythological history concerning the migrations of several distinguished ancestors. The life of one of these in its beginning is of peculiar interest. At his birth his mother, seeing that he was very feeble, put him in a little skiff which she placed upon the sea. The winds and the waves rocked him. He was finally wafted ashore, and found and cared for by a woman in high authority. His after life was full of wonderful and supernatural deeds. Then comes an age of heroes. These at death were deified and shone as stars in the heavens. Their brilliancy was greater or less according to their deeds of valor.
In the cosmogony of these New Zealanders the earth is a plain, the heavens an opaque body extending around it, separated from it by a transparent substance. They supposed that the sun and moon glided on the outside of this crystal-like appearance. Above is the reservoir of the rain, higher the haunts of the winds, higher still the dwelling of spirits, then that of light, and then the highest region, the abode of the greatest of all the gods.
They recognized a multitude of divinities, and accorded to each one a special function. They occasionally presented offerings to the gods, in order to render them propitious.
They did not anticipate any pain nor any recompense in the future life. After death souls, having remained three days near the bodies which they had abandoned, took themselves to the extreme north of New Zealand, in order to take their last plunge into eternal night, or into glory.
As to their customs, scholars say that among the Maoris the family existed, the tribe, and, in a certain rude sense, the nation. Under ordinary circumstances the people lived independent of one another. Upon great occasions the chief called together the tribes under his sway. He had, however, the power to declare war or peace, or to dispose of any question of interest to the public, only with the consent of his people. There was little distinction in regard to rank among them. The practice of tattooing themselves prevailed largely, especially among the warriors.
They had a custom of flattening the noses of the boys and bandaging their knees and the lower part of the legs, in order to make them smaller. Thus they manifested the æsthetic sentiment. The hands of the girls were bound in such a way as to render them more skillful, in their estimation, in separating and weaving the fibers of the plant which affords the famous linen of New Zealand.