Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/21

Mr. J. Watkins.

Appearance of the Natives of New Zealand and the Natives of Australia. The Natives of Australia are very inferior in point of Intellect; their Foreheads are very flat, and recede very much, and they are weakly in Appearance. The Natives of New Zealand are very bold, stout, and athletic; some of the Men are Six Feet high, and stout in proportion: Titori was of that Description; one of the finest Men I ever saw.

Were there many Vessels there during the Time you were there?

From Thirty to Forty at one Time; English and American.

Are the Harbours good?

The Harbours are called good, but certainly rather open.

What Harbours?

The Bay of Islands, for instance, where Vessels anchor at Three different Places; Tipuna, Cororareka, and Cowa Cowa. At Cororareka is a small Beach; it is Twelve Miles from Tipuna, and Four Miles from Paihia.

Had you an Opportunity of conversing with the Natives at all, and learning their Feelings with respect to the coming of Europeans among them?

Frequently; I used to converse with them in broken English and broken native Language, as much as I could, on any thing which came in the Way, and frequently on that Subject.

What appeared to you to be their Impression or Wish?

They were very much alarmed at the Idea of their Country being taken away from them, and their being reduced to Slavery; but they were very anxious to have something done to increase their Knowledge, and to allow their Independence at the same Time to remain. They would frequently express themselves with that Idea. If they could get any Person to teach them the various Arts, for instance, the Medical Profession, they would be very glad indeed, and would esteem it a very high Favour. They used to hold out as an Inducement that they would give me any Spot of Land I thought proper to select out of the Chief's Territory if I would teach them the Medical Profession, or how to heal all Diseases. Any Person being sent to them in the Medical Profession would have great Influence with them, and I should say more in the Medical Profession than any other. The Missionary Character stands very high; it is impossible for it to stand higher than it does.

Was it within your Knowledge whether the Missionaries have occupied Lands much there?

Yes, they have purchased some Spots of Land there; and Mr. Henry Williams was going then to purchase a Spot in the Neighbourhood of Waimati for his Children.

Can you describe the Transaction which took place which you consider amounting to purchase?

They give, perhaps, Two or Three Muskets and a Barrel of Powder, and Three or Four Blankets, with Small Wares. The most common Things are Blankets sent out there to give them, and Powder and Shot, Pipes and Tobacco; those are the Things they get.

There is a Sort of Price given. How is the Land made over?

The English People draw out a Sort of Document, as they would here; they get the Chiefs to sign it. The Chiefs take their Pen, and flourish in their own Style a Sort of—I do not know what to call it; something which is intelligible to themselves. They draw something similar to their tatooing. Each knows his own Mark.

Is the Document in their own Language?

No; exclusively in the English Language; all I have seen.

The Document being exclusively in English, you had an Opportunity of judging whether the Chiefs understood what it meant or what was the Purport of it?

Generally the Chiefs went to the Missionaries before they would sell any Spot of Land, to have them as Interpreters, and the Chiefs went according to what the Missionaries told them, in every Case I know, excepting Mr. Trapp.