Mr Burney, who was sent by Captain Furneaux the next day, with an armed party, to look for his missing people, upon discovering the horrid proofs of their shocking fate, had fired several vollies amongst the crowds of natives who still remained assembled on the spot, and were probably partaking of the detestable banquet. It was natural to suppose that he had not fired in vain; and that, therefore, some of the murderers and devourers of our unhappy countrymen had suffered under our just resentment. Upon enquiry, however, into this matter, not only from Kahoora, but from others who had opportunities of knowing, it appeared that our supposition was groundless, and that not one of the shot fired by Mr Burney's people had taken effect, so as to kill, or even to hurt, a single person.[143]
[Footnote 143: Mr Burney was not warranted in firing. It was not possible for him, at the time, to know whether or not his comrades had been justly punished for aggressions on the savages. He acted, therefore, from the impulse of blind revenge. But such a motive, though natural enough it may be, must, nevertheless, be condemned by every law recognised among civilized nations. Even his observing these people engaged in feasting on the victims of their fury, much indeed as it would necessarily augment his abhorrence, could not be allowed a sufficient plea for his attacking them; because the principles which ought to govern the conduct of a member of such a society as he belonged to, are indiscriminately imperative in their nature, and do not allow any latitude of dispensation to an individual. The only thing that warrants the violation of them, is the necessity imposed by a still higher law,--that of preserving his own existence. But, in the present instance, it does not appear that he was in any danger.--E.]
It was evident, that most of the natives we had met with since our arrival, as they knew I was fully acquainted with the history of the massacre, expected I should avenge it with the death of Kahoora. And many of them seemed not only to wish it, but expressed their surprise at my forbearance. As he could not be ignorant of this, it was a matter of wonder to me that he put himself so often in my power. When he visited us while the ships lay in the cove, confiding in the number of his friends that accompanied him, he might think himself safe; but his two last visits had been made under such circumstances, that he could no longer rely upon this. We were then at anchor in the entrance of the sound, and at some distance from any shore; so that he could not have any assistance from thence, nor flatter himself he could have the means of making his escape, had I determined to detain him. And yet, after his first fears, on being interrogated, were over, he was so far from entertaining any uneasy sensations, that, on seeing a portrait of one of his countrymen hanging up in the cabin, he desired to have his own portrait drawn; and sat till Mr Webber had finished it, without marking the least impatience. I must confess I admired his courage, and was not a little pleased to observe the extent of the confidence he put in me; for he placed his whole safety in the declarations I had uniformly made to those who solicited his death, That I had always been a friend to them all, and would continue so, unless they gave me cause to act otherwise; that as to their inhuman treatment of our people, I should think no more of it, the transaction having happened long ago, and when I was not present; but that, if ever they made a second attempt of that kind, they might rest assured of feeling the weight of my resentment.[144]
[Footnote 144: Here Captain Cook acted wisely; and, indeed, throughout the whole transaction, his conduct merits the highest applause. To resist the solicitations of envy and revenge, where acquiescence would have proved so availing to his reputation, and so secure in its display, implied a conscientious regard to an invisible authority, which must ever be allowed to constitute a feature of excellence in any man to whom power is committed. His threatening is not to be considered as any exception to what is now said in his praise, being, in fact, a beneficial intimation calculated to secure subjection to a necessary law. Here it may not be amiss to remark, that savages, little as some men think of them, are possessed of all the faculties of human nature; and that conscience, that principle, which, more than reason, characterizes our species, has as true and as efficient an existence in their breasts. Now this always respects a superior power, and is the source of that indescribable dread of some opposing and awful agency, which never fails to visit the transgressor of its dictates. We must not, however, ascribe to it every apprehension of danger with which the mind is occasionally disturbed. There is a sort of fear of evil which seems common to us with the lower animals, and which cannot therefore be imagined to have any connection with moral delinquency. This latter, it is probable, was all that Kahoora experienced in his first interview with Cook after the massacre; and hence his apprehensions would easily be subdued by the assurances which that gentleman made him. In fact, from the facility of his confidence, we may almost certainly infer his consciousness of innocence, notwithstanding his share in the commission of the deed. This implies no inconsistency, as every thinking person will at once perceive; for it must be remembered, that there is no evidence whatever as to any design or premeditated plan on the part of the savages. Had his dread been of the former kind, it is scarcely conceivable that the utmost assurances of indemnity which Cook could give, would have produced so unaffected a manifestation of ease as is described.--E.]
For some time before we arrived at New Zealand, Omai had expressed a desire to take one of the natives with him to his own country. We had not been there many days before he had an opportunity of being gratified in this; for a youth, about seventeen or eighteen years of age, named Taweiharooa, offered to accompany him, and took up his residence on board. I paid little attention to this at first, imagining that he would leave us when we were about to depart, and after he had got what he could from Omai. At length, finding that he was fixed in his resolution to go with us, and having learnt that he was the only son of a deceased chief, and that his mother, still living, was a woman much respected here, I was apprehensive that Omai had deceived him and his friends, by giving them hopes and assurances of his being sent back. I therefore caused it to be made known to them all, that if the young man went away with us he would never return. But this declaration seemed to make no sort of impression. The afternoon before we left the cove, Tiratoutou, his mother, came on board, to receive her last present from Omai. The same evening she and Taweiharooa parted, with all the marks of tender affection that might be expected between a parent and a child, who were never to meet again. But she said she would cry no more; and, sure enough, she kept her word. For when she returned the next morning, to take her last farewell of him, all the time she was on board she remained quite cheerful, and went away wholly unconcerned.
That Taweiharooa might be sent away in a manner becoming his birth, another youth was to have gone with him as his servant; and, with this view, as we supposed, he remained on board till we were about to sail, when his friends took him ashore. However, his place was supplied next morning by another, a boy of about nine or ten years of age, named Kokoa. He was presented to me by his own father, who, I believe, would have parted with his dog with far less indifference. The very little clothing the boy had he stript him of, and left him as naked as he was born. It was to no purpose that I endeavoured to convince these people of the improbability, or rather of the impossibility, of these youths ever returning home. Not one, not even their nearest relations, seemed to trouble themselves about their future fate. Since this was the case, and I was well satisfied that the boys would be no losers by exchange of place, I the more readily gave my consent to their going.
From my own observations, and from the information of Taweiharooa and others, it appears to me that the New Zealanders must live under perpetual apprehensions of being destroyed by each other; there being few of their tribes that have not, as they think, sustained wrongs from some other tribe, which they are continually upon the watch to revenge. And, perhaps, the desire of a good meal may be no small incitement. I am told that many years sometimes elapse before a favourable opportunity happens, and that the son never loses sight of an injury that has been done to his father.[145] Their method of executing their horrible designs, is by stealing upon the adverse party in the night; and if they find them unguarded, (which, however, I believe, is very seldom the case,) they kill every one indiscriminately; not even sparing the women and children. When the massacre is completed, they either feast and gorge themselves on the spot, or carry off as many of the dead bodies as they can, and devour them at home, with acts of brutality too shocking to be described. If they are discovered before they can execute their bloody purpose, they generally steal off again, and sometimes are pursued and attacked by the other party in their turn. To give quarter, or to take prisoners, makes no part of their military law; so that the vanquished can only save their lives by flight. This perpetual state of war, and destructive method of conducting it, operates so strongly in producing habitual circumspection, that one hardly ever finds a New Zealander off his guard either by night or by day. Indeed, no other man can have such powerful motives to be vigilant, as the preservation both of body and of soul depends upon it; for, according to their system of belief, the soul of the man whose flesh is devoured by the enemy, is doomed to a perpetual fire, while the soul of the man whose body has been rescued from those who killed him, as well as the souls of all who die a natural death, ascend to the habitations of the gods. I asked, Whether they eat the flesh of such of their friends as had been killed in war, but whose bodies were saved from falling into the enemy's hands? They seemed surprised at the question, which they answered in the negative, expressing some abhorrence at the very idea. Their common method of disposing of their dead, is by depositing their bodies in the earth; but if they have more of their slaughtered enemies than they can eat, they throw them into the sea.
[Footnote 145: Every reader almost will here recollect, that a similar disposition to perpetuate grievances has been found to operate in all barbarous nations, and indeed amongst many people who lay great claims to refinement in civilization. It will be found, in truth, too strong an effort for most men's charity, to regard with perfect impartiality either a person or a nation whom their fathers had pointed out as an enemy. On the great scale of the world, we see it is the nearly inevitable consequence of war to generate malicious feelings. In addition, then, to some contrariety of interest, to some real or imaginary aggression, or even a bare possibility of being injured, it is almost enough, at any time, for the commencement of a new struggle betwixt rival nations, that one, or both of them, remember they were formerly at variance. Nor is it at all requisite for due rancour in such cases, that politicians explain the grounds of the quarrel, and aggravate the enormous injustice of the opponent, or prove his readiness to do mischief. The animosity is already conceived, and waits only the removal of the gauze-like partition, to be able, with greater certainty of effect, to guide its instruments of destruction. "Hear," says Mr Ferguson, in his essay on this subject, "hear the peasants on different sides of the Alps, and the Pyrenees, the Rhyne, or the British channel, give vent to their prejudices and national passions; it is among them that we find the materials of war and dissension laid without the direction of government, and sparks ready to kindle into a flame, which the statesman is frequently disposed to extinguish. The fire will not always catch where his reasons of state would direct, nor stop where the concurrence of interest has produced an alliance. 'My father,' said a Spanish peasant, 'would rise from his grave if he could foresee a war with France.' What interest had he, or the bones of his father, in the quarrels of princes?" The answer might easily be given by another anecdote. During a parley betwixt the leaders of two rival Highland clans, which had for its object the peaceable termination of their differences, a subordinate officer, not relishing the unusual homily, went up to his chief in a rage, and upbraided him for delaying the combat. "Don't you see," says he, brandishing his claymore, "that the sun is almost set?--we'll no hae half time to kill thae rascals!" The peasant naturally enough wished that his father might rise again to take his share in the delightful work of slaughter. Pray, what childish scruples withhold persons of such keen appetites from occasionally taking a belly-full of their enemy's flesh?--E.]
They have no such thing as morais, or other places of public worship; nor do they ever assemble together with this view. But they have priests, who alone address the gods in prayer for the prosperity of their temporal affairs, such as an enterprise against a hostile tribe, a fishing party, or the like.
Whatever the principles of their religion may be, of which we remain very ignorant, its instructions are very strongly inculcated into them from their very infancy. Of this I saw a remarkable instance, in the youth who was first destined to accompany Taweiharooa. He refrained from eating the greatest part of the day, on account of his hair being cut, though every method was tried to induce him to break his resolution, and he was tempted with the offer of such victuals as he was known to esteem the most. He said, if he eat any thing that day the Eatooa would kill him. However, toward evening, the cravings of nature got the better of the precepts of his religion, and he ate, though but sparingly. I had often conjectured, before this, that they had some superstitious notions about their hair, having frequently observed quantities of it tied to the branches of trees near some of their habitations; but what these notions are I could never learn.