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CHAPTER VI.

STATE OF NATURE-WAR.

ONE of the strangest, and at the same time one of the most common misrepresentations respecting a state of barbarism is, that it is a scene of universal love and harmony. The dreamers who have published their visions of an original condition of ignorance and innocence, averred that the union which bound man to man under such circumstances, was a spirit of spontaneous love, leading each to delight in the brotherhood of his kind, and thus gathering together all the members of the tribe into one affectionate and harmonious family. A close examination of savage life has reversed the picture; instead of being a state of universal love and harmony, it is commonly one of perpetual discord and violence. We have shewn that the feeling of right is natural to man, and that the efficacy of civilization is most sensibly experienced in defining, strengthening, and securing the rights both of the individual and the community; but where rights are unsettled and undefined, wrongs must be frequent, and recourse must be had to violence for that redress which no law exists to afford.

When the right of redressing his own wrongs is left to every individual, injuries are felt most deeply, and revenge is sought with unrelenting rancour. In civilized life we too frequently see the fatal influence of

such a principle; the worst outrages are usually perpetrated by those who "take the law into their own hands," a servile war, a Jacquerie, or an agrarian insurrection, are far more to be dreaded than plague, pestilence, and famine. But these horrors, which are found occasionally in civilized states, constitute almost the entire history of savage existence: no time can obliterate the memory of an offence, and no expiation can be received for injury but the blood of the offender. It is not altogether to the encroachments of the Whites that we must attribute the rapid disappearance of the Red men from America; at least as destructive a cause is the inveterate passion of the Indians for war, and their insatiate thirst for vengeance. In a future chapter, we shall see that there is strong evidence to prove that depopulation had commenced among the aborigines of North America long before the New World was visited by Europeans, and since that period, tribes have disappeared from the interior, which never were brought into contact with the white intruders.

Mr. Kolff, in his recent examination of the Indian Archipelago, found the islanders invariably engaged in war, and, conscious of the mutual sufferings they inflicted on themselves, most of them expressed anxiety that the Dutch would establish their supremacy over all parties, and become umpires in their quarrels. One example will shew from what trifling causes a series of sanguinary feuds may arise and be perpetuated. The following is his account of the enmity which had arisen against the people of the Romian, in the Tenimber islands:

"The people of Romian happened to have more

success in the Trepang fishery than the people of the other villages during two successive years, which gave rise to an envious feeling on the part of their neighbours, which was increased by a Chinese vessel having remained at Romian to trade, while only one of the China-men belonging to her proceeded to Ewena to barter with the inhabitants. These circumstances gave rise to distrust and estrangement, and the people of both villages began to avoid each other, though without coming to an open rupture.

"A third accidental circumstance which occurred, tended to enlarge the breach. While the children belonging to the two villages were playing with small bows and arrows, a child from Ewena happened to wound slightly one of those from Romian. The inhabitants of the latter place, viewing the accident as an intentional offence, demanded satisfaction, and whenever parties from each village met, they proceeded from words to blows, and at length broke out into open war with each other. Each party robbed the other of their women, destroyed their fisheries, and put a stop to their agriculture, becoming more embittered at the occurrence of every deed, until at length, a few weeks before my arrival, a downright skirmish ensued, in which the people of Ewena had one man killed and nine wounded, while ten belonging to the other party were wounded also.

"The people of Ewena being the less powerful of the two, demanded assistance from the inhabitants of Aweer. The parties now became so exasperated, that there existed no possibility of those who had not entered into the quarrel being able to pacify them, and

the strife soon extended to Larrat, and even to the more distant Serra, where individuals influenced by family connexions took up the cause of one or the other party."

The New Zealanders, in many respects the most remarkable barbarous nation with which we are acquainted, do not yield to any other in savage ferocity; their wars are incessant, and frequently arise from the most trivial causes. A feud, which Mr. Marsden had the good fortune to reconcile just as it was about to lead to sanguinary outrages, will give a very good idea of their propensity to war on the most trivial occasion.

"When Mr. Marsden visited the neighbourhood of the Shukehanga in 1819, he found a quarrel about to commence between two of the principal chiefs-whose lands lay contiguous, and who were also, as it appeared, nearly related-in consequence of the pigs of the one having got into the sweet potato grounds of the other, who had retaliated by shooting several of them. The chief whose pigs had committed the trespass, and whom Mr. Marsden was now visiting, was an old man, apparently eighty years of age, named Warremaddoo, who had now resigned the chief authority to his son Matanghee yet this affair rekindled all the ancient enthusiasm of the venerable warrior. The other chief was called Moodeewhy. The morning debate, at which several chiefs spoke with great force and dignity, had been suddenly interrupted; but it was resumed in the evening, when Mr. Marsden was again present. On this occasion, old Warremaddoo threw off his mat, took spear, and began to address his tribe and the chiefs. He made strong appeals to them against the injustice

and ingratitude of Moodeewhy's conduct towards them -recited many injuries which he and his tribe had suffered from Moodeewhy for a long period,-mentioned instances of his bad conduct in the time that his father's bones were removed from the Aboodu Pa to their family vault,-stated acts of kindness which he had shewn to Moodeewhy at different times,—and said that he had twice saved his tribe from total ruin. In the present instance, Moodeewhy had killed three of his hogs. Every time he mentioned his loss, the recollection seemed to nerve afresh his aged sinews; he shook his hoary beard, stamped with indignant rage, and poised his quivering spear. He exhorted his tribe to be bold and courageous, and declared that he would lead them in the morning against the enemy, and rather than submit, he would be killed and eaten. All that they wanted was firmness and courage; he knew well the enemies they had to meet their hearts did not lie deep; and if they were resolutely opposed, they would yield. His oration continued nearly an hour, and all listened to him with great attention. This dispute, however, partly through Mr. Marsden's intercession, who offered to give each of the indignant leaders an adze if they would make peace, was at last amicably adjusted, and the two, as the natives expressed it, were made both alike inside. But Mr. Marsden was a good deal surprised on observing old Warremaddoo, immediately after he had rubbed noses with Moodeewhy in token of reconcilement, begin, with his slaves, to burn and destroy the fence of the enclosure in which they were assembled, belonging to Moodeewhy, who, however, took no notice of the destruction of his pro