"Partly through their traditions, and partly from the discovery of many of the bones of the Moa in the ovens and in the heaps of rubbish around the ruins of ancient villages. The natives devoured any birds they could catch; parrots, pigeons, parson-birds, anything and everything edible was legitimate food. Those that dwelt on the coast lived chiefly on a fish diet, and those in the interior made annual or more frequent migrations to the sea-side for purposes of fishing. The rivers abound in eels, and they grow to an enormous size; I have seen eels weighing fifty pounds each, and have heard of larger ones."
Frank asked what the clothing of the natives was made of before the Europeans came to the country.
DRESSING FLAX.
"It was made from the fibre of the flax," was the reply. "There are several kinds of flax, and it grows everywhere and near every village. Not only did it supply the material for garments, but for nets, baskets, lines, mats, dishes, cordage, and other things. They used cords made from it for binding the walls and roofs of their houses together, and thus made it serve in place of nails. Great quantities of flax are raised here nowadays, as you will understand when you know there are some forty and odd flax-mills in the colony, and considerable flax is exported every year.
"Most of the Maoris that you will see during your stay in New Zealand wear clothes of European style, as they find them more convenient than the cloaks and mats of former days. On ceremonial occasions the old finery is displayed, and the cloaks of some of the chiefs are really magnificent. Cloaks and mats or blankets were the ordinary dress, one mat being wrapped around the waist, and the other thrown over the shoulder. Men wore their mats on the right shoulder, and women on the left, and they sometimes adorned their heads with the gayest feathers they could find. Children went naked in their early years, except in the coldest weather, when they wrapped themselves in any old garments they could lay hands on."
The youths learned many other things about the Maoris, but we have not room for all the notes they made on the subject. Frank asked particularly about the marriage ceremonies of the natives, probably for the information of his young lady friends at home. He learned that children might be betrothed by their parents when very young, or if not so betrothed they could marry very much as in civilized lands. Sometimes the parents and families, and more frequently the whole tribe, discussed any proposed match, and made all sorts of hinderances to it. Courtship was begun by the girl quite as often as by the young man, and when marriage was decided there were great preparations for a festivity, and the bride and bridegroom were provided with new mats and many other articles of household use. The funny part of the business was that during the marriage-feast everything movable was carried away by the friends, under the law of muru already described. The young couple started in life with nothing except the clothes they wore and the house that had been built for them.
During their stay at Auckland our friends visited some of the islands in the bay, including that of Kawau, where Sir George Grey, a former governor of New Zealand, has a fine residence. The house is quite English in appearance and character, and contains a good museum of Maori and other curiosities. The grounds around the house abound in pheasants of several kinds from Europe and Asia, kangaroos from Australia, tree-kangaroos from New Guinea, and several members of the deer family. Near Kawau they saw a fleet of boats manned by Maoris engaged in the capture of sharks. The creatures they pursued were not the ordinary shark, which is abundant in New Zealand waters, but a smaller variety measuring about six feet in length.