The Press.
London, England, 1855-03-24 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

indeed throdghout the whole of the Crimea,
particularly iu the southern districts, where
their• principal business is the care of the
vines and orchard s,which are cultivated at a vast
expense, on the estates of the Russian nobility.
Passing through Baktchi•Serai (a Tartar town
beautifully situated in a deep, dark dell), Dr.
Koch reached Sebastopol ; but there is little
to interest in his description— he tells us
nothing that we do not know better ourselves.
We append one remark which concludes the
chapter upon the occupation of the Crimea :
T have already mentioned that the allies will probably be
satisfied with destroying the fleet of the Black Sea, and the
fortifications o' Sebastopol. A permanent occupation
would cost the Western powers enormous sacrifices, and
yet finally would lead to no result. Sebastopol would never
become a Gibraltar. The greatest difficulty attendant on a
permanent occupeion is the constant maintenance of such
a large body of troops as it appears would be requisite for a
place so remotely situated. Were all the country to be
conquered, together with Sebastopol, the difficulties would
only be increased, as the vicinity of an ever•powerful
enemy requires the utmost measures of defence to be
maintained, especially as the sole object of the latter would
be to regain possession of the peninsula. The Crimea will
never be able to support large armies in addition to its own
population, for there is a total absence of water, with the
exception of the small supply to be found in the few valleys;
and, failing this, as even aqueducts cannot be constructed,
it is impossible that fertility, and still less agriculture,
should flourish.
Dr. Koch, after leaving Sebastopol, pro-
ceeded round the coast-road from Balaklava
to Aloushta. The valley of Baidar, he tells
us, a short distance from Balaklava, is a most
beautiful spot : wooded dells, tempting or-
chards, and bright patches of waving corn,
with picturesque homesteads, meet the eye at
every turn. The scenery, he says, is en-
chanting, the post-road excellent, the horses
strong and well-conditioned, but the expense
of travelling is painfully extortionate, while the
accommodation afforded is abominable, and
below the average of tho very worst Ger-
man inns.

We will pass over the scientific observa-
tions of the coast-range. The aqueous for-
mation, the sedimentary strata, and the
subterranean pressure, we will leave for
geologists, merely observing that upon the
uppermost portion of this southern range are
found the yailas, or level flats, which are more
or less luxuriant, and repaired to by the
Tartars with their flocks during summer.
Upon the coast-range on the northern side of
the Crimea the vegetation is very scanty ; and
Demidoff and other travellers, says Dr. Koch,
commit a serious error when they designate
the whole of the Crimean ranges as yailas.
It is only so in portions of this southern
range.
Aloupka, Orianda, and 'Yalta, the several
seats of Prince Woronzoff, the Emperor and
Empress, and the Princess Galitzin, all
situated in the most enchanting spots, Dr.
Koch duly visited, and he speaks in rapturous
terms of the beauty of the scenery and the
magnificent and imposing grandeur of the sea-
view from this mountainous coast, with cliffs
varying from 2,000 to 4,000 feet high. The
cultivation of the vine is mainly carried on
here ; and in these fertile valley s of the south-
eastern sea-coasts the vines seem to flourish,
but they change their nature, and the wine
produced at so great a cost, far beyond the
value of an imported wine, is on the whole
inferior in quality. The fruit, on the other
hand, is good, and the best quality is sent
direct to Moscow and St. Petersburg. The
imperial gardens of Nikita are the most fa-
mous. Every fruit is here carefully grown—
peaches, apricots, plums, almonds, walnuts,
&c.—and the vines are very numerous, but
not flourishing :
The whole of Europe u far as Lisbon, Madeira, South
Africa, Asia from Tiflis to Shiraz, and even North America,
were placed under contribution in order to supply the best
among their vines for the southern coast of the Crimea.
No expense has been spared to obtain a celebrated vine
even from the remotest corner of the globe. But these
varieties all more or less lose their peculiar merits on the
Crimean soil, and retain nothing but the name. I thought
that I recognised the foliage of the early Wiirzburger, the
Rhenish Riessling, the Traminer of the Palatinate, and the
favourite Bordeaux, &c., but not the grapes, and still less
the wine prepared from them On the
other hand, such excellent wines were presented to me in
Nikita, and still more in Magaratch, by Prince F. B.
Galitzin, that they would have met with approval from the
most experienced wine-drinkers. We were, however, told
that the preparation of this quality of wine demands snob
extreme care, that it is impossible to trade in it, for it would

SATURDAY,

either be given awity at enormous loss, or would have
immense prices attached to it.
lt is besides the universal opinion of vine-growers in the
Crimea, that, although much attention is paid to the cal-
tare of the vine, yet there are few people who are able to
prepare the wine with sufficient knowledge of the subject.
Enormous sums have been expended in order to render
the sterile ground productive ; nearly as much has been
bestowed in obtaining vines from all parts of the globe,
and in inducing vine-dressers to come and tend the vine;
but there is an entire absence of experienced coopers, who
know how to manage the wine, both during and after the
fermentation, and, though it will hardly be credited, even
the pper and effective implements are wanting.
Hrois description of his journey over the
ranges to Simferopol, and from thence to
Perekup, across limestone steppes for
ninety-five miles, without meeting a flock
of sheep, or passing a single village upon
the road—for there are none, nothing but
a few (five) miserable post-stations—is with-
out much incident. Perekop is about two
and a half miles across; the town is of no
consequence, except as being the very key to
the Crimea ; but Dr. Koch omits to tell us the
depth of water in the bay. Between Perekup
through Aleshki and Kherson to Nioolaev is a
distance of some 107 miles. Nicolaev was
formerly the head-quarters during winter of
the Russian fleet, but building and fitting out
the different men-of-war are now its sole duties.
It is a most important arsenal, and appears to
have been wholly overlooked by Admiral Dun-
das in his late direction of the coast opera-
tions of our fleet.

Of the vegetation of the Crimea Dr. Koch
does not speak favorably: culinary vegetables
do not flourish ; turnips produce woody fibrous
roots ; carrots the same ; spinach is bad, and
cabbage coarse; while lettuce must be sown
in autumn to show a head in spring. Camels and
sheep are the staple animals of the Crimea.
The dromedaries which Demidoff mentions,
Dr. Koch says are not to be seen ; he met with
only the double-humped camels, with a singu-
larly beautiful mane, which reaches to the
ground, and which is used as wool, and woven
by the women into cloths and other stuffs. The
sheep are something like the fat-tailed sheep
of the Russian steppes, but not so fine, and
Dr. Koch remarks that, throughout the whole
of his tour, he never met with any of those re-
nowned Crimean sheep which supply the Cri-
mean fur, although a few flocks do exist. Of the
Tartars Dr. Koch speaks very favorably. Their
whole population scarcely amounts to 60,000
souls, though once they were 300,000 ; but the
Russian Government has done all in its power
to repeople this deserted country. Germans,
Greeks, Armenians, and Jews aro encouraged
to settle, but the want of trade is the great
drawback—Odessa has absorbed the whole
trade of the Black Sea. The habits of the
Tartars are simple, sober, and cleanly, and
their domestic life unexceptionable. A Tartar
village, says Dr. Koch, strikes one immediately
on entering it by the cleanliness of the streets
and houses ; no naked or ragged children ;
order, activity, and industry surround you on
all sides : they are, moreover, exceedingly
hardworking and frugal.
Throughout Dr. Koch's journey he met with
few if any incidents worth recording, but his
remarks upon the geology, the climate, and
the physical features of the country are pointa
upon which he throws greater light that any
other traveller. The one great want of the
country is water, and after the early days of
spring the steppes become barren and dusty
wastes, offering no means of subsistence for
men or animals. The fertility of the country
is confined to a few valleys among the ranges
of the south-east coast, and this is a point
worth the consideration of the allied generals
in their projected operations in the field.
An excellent and accurate map accompanies
this book, which, on the whole, materially in-
creases our information with regard to the
physical features of the Crimea, its population,
and its resources.

Popular Sketch of the Origin and Development
of the English Constitution. Two Vols. Vol 11.
From the Accession of James I. to the Present
Period. By Henry Raikes, M.A. London :
W. H. Dalton.
EVERYTHING has its use : the " gauging plea
"of Poor Peter Peebles v. Planistanes " afforded
excellent practice to the young Scotch advo-
cates, and what that plea was to them the

1 14

tbatcrt 14,1855.

English Constitution is to "learned" amateur
instructors of youth.
It was about the year 1840 that Mr. Raikes,
having to deliver three lectures to a mechanics
institution at Chester, selected the British Con-
stitution for his theme, and it is to this cir-
cumstance that we are indebted for the bulky
volumes before us. For, notwithstanding the
labours of De Lolpae, Blackstone, Hallam,
Lord Mahon, Lord John Russell, and Macau-
lay, whose works he freely criticises, Mr.
Raikes considered it " a remarkable defect in
" our educational literature that there is lite-
" rally no book that we can put into the hands
" of a young mau or intelligent boy for the
" purpose of conveying an idea of the growth
" and present state of the Constitution ; ' and
to supply this " palpable deficiency " the three
lectures were worked up into two volumes,
intended to be " learned enough to be worth
"reading, but yet popular enough to be read."
We would speak of Mr. Raikes kindly : he died
shortly after the second volume of his work
issued from the press, but he admitted that
he possessed " little fitness for a work of this
" moment," and it is evidently a mistake to
think of extending a " Popular Sketch" of our
Constitution to a thousand octavo pages.
The plan pursued by the author is to narrate
events and to comment on them as he pro
(seeds. He claims the merit of " viewing all
" public acts and questions by the light of
" moral truth, and referring all men and man-
" ners to the stern and immutable principles
" of right and wrong, apart from any national
"or sectarian predilections " In this frame of
mind it is not wonderful that Mr. Raikes
should find no heroes, and little to praise in
the proud drama and moving incidents of
English story. The characters pass in pro-
cession before him ; to each he applies the one
unbending measure, and as none come up to
the mark, all—Trojan and Tyrian—Charles
and Cromwell—Strafford and Hampden—are
dismissed with equal censure, each to his
bloody or desecrated grave Weighed in the
balances of eternal truth, all that is usually
accounted virtuous and great would doubtless
be found wanting, but a modern historian is
not an inspired prophet sent to " cry against
" Nineveh, and, if he were, he might re-
member that Jonah was asked, " Doest thou
" well to be angry ?" In human affairs
there remains, apart from those questions on
which all are agreed, a general balance of
virtue or vice, wisdom or folly, which may be
struck in every age. On isolated points—on
episodes in the main and onward action—
opinions of persons of the same general way
of thinking may well differ, but in the effect
of the broad whole there will be a concurrence
of sentiment; the result may be considered
good or evil, and those who brought it about
may merit our censure or our praise. But it
is not as a whole that Mr. Raikes views our
constitutional progress. He examines each
act in each stage of it separately, and, as he
finds some evil in everything, he can nowhere
see good. This may be religious truth, but it
is not historical truth, and it is not the way in
which history should be written.
The fame of great men is a great national
inheritance. We should tread lightly and
speak lowly and reverently when we approach
their graves, and be not prompt to refer to the
decalogue and say this man has violated the
seventh commandment and that the sixth.
In the history of David why dwell exclusively
ou the episode of Uriah? In their limited
mental scope, what can Smith and Jones know
of " those who do the tasks of peril in this
" world of life ? " what of their fiercer pas-
sions—their stronger temptations ? It jars
upon the ear to hear a respectable gentleman,
sitting in his easy-chair, sipping his port,
complacently pass sentence on the mighty
amongst men, according to a little Rhadaman-
than code of his own. If Hallam chills and
repels by a somewhat ostentatious assump-
tion of judicial impartiality, he yet brings
to his exposition of constitutional develop-
ment vast learning, a style which, if cold, is
always clear, and which occasionally rises into
noble eloquence. Mr. Raikes, without any of
Mr. Hallam's merits, possesses his refrigera-
tive qualities in tenfold intensity, together
with many others which are peculiarly his
own; and the result is, that he has failed-in

PtnE PRESS.

his design, for, even if his book were " learned
enough to be worth reeding," it would never
become sufficiently popular to be read.
It is characteristic of the narrow views of
the author that he makes the case of that un-
fortunate woman Mary Jones, who, being
driven to desperation by want, stole some
article from a shop, the text for fierce denun-
ciation of our ancient criminal law. Ab-
stractedly, it may be cruel to hang for any
crime except murder, but many good and wise
people thought otherwise, both long before
Mary Jones was born and long after she was
"justified." About the period of Mrs. Jones's
untimely end, Boswell came to breakfast with
Johnson, having first sharpened his appetite
by attending the execution of fifteen critni-
nals, chiefly horse-stealers and highwaymen ;
yet neither the lord of Auchinleck nor the
philosopher of Fleet-street expressed horror on
the occasion ; and many years afterwar is Miss
Edgeworth—a good woman in her way—warmly
praises the " wholesome severity of the ex-
" ecutive in never relaxing the rigour of the law
"in favour of forgers." Mr. Raikes should
remember that humanity, like all other human
developments, is progressive, and that the
sentiments of men in general are formed by
the age in which they live.
Sir Walter Scott said that he never con-
versed with any one from whom he did not
learn something ; and a thousand octavo
pages should reward the patience of the
reader by teaching much. But there is only
one chapter in the whole work before us from
which ordinary readers would derive instruc-
tion, and that is the last—on our system of
jurisprudence. There is in it much sterling
stuff. In treating of uses and trusts a de
lightful dilemma is stated for the discussion
of dilettanti litterateui a. Feoffees to uses, he
it known, are, in less technical English,
simply trustees; but before the Ist Richard
111., c. 1, there was no power to compel the
feoffee to execute his trust. In the eye of
the law the property was his own, and he
might have appropriated it to his own use :
Yet it must be observed, to the credit of our national
character, that very few instances are recorded of any
faithless and dishonourable use of an advantage recognised
and enforced by three out of the four superior courts; and
of the extensive temptation to which some idea may be
formed from the fact, that at the accession of Richard 111.
the greater part of England was enfeoffei to him to uses.
And from this dry and forensic point of view some curious
and novel glimpses may be caught of the last and most
doubtful act in the great drama of the civil wars of the

Roses.
It might reasonably be asked, on one side, how it came
that a prince equally odious for private vices and political
depravity u Richard 111. is represented, should have re-
ceived the marked because voluntary trusteeship of nenrly
half the landed property of England. While on the other
side it might he urged with almost equal force, that such
a hold u his trusteeship must have given him on the pro-
perty of the country would have in no small degree con-
tributed to his usurpation of the crown. Either of these
hypotheses, based on stubborn facts that have not admitted
of poetic colouring nor party misstatement, but which have
received the solemn recognition of an act of the Legisla•
tore, would be a fitter medium through which to view the
stormy reign and doubtful character of Richard 111., than
the eloquence of Shakapeare, or the scepticism of Walpole.
What Mr. Raikes means by " either of these
" hypotheses based on stubborn facts" it is
not easy to say ; but perhaps he intended to
express that both those alio denounce and
those who defend that king might deduce
strong arguments in support of their respec-
tive opinions from the facts he mentions. He
was a good man, or he would not have been
so trusted; and a bad man, or he would not
have employed the influence he had acquired
to usurp the crown. The explanation seems
to us perfectly clear. Richard became trustee,
not simply from his private character, but his
position. Ono so near the throne had too
great a stoke in the country to play the rogue
on a small scale; and before the Manchester
school had arisen, it would have been a dan-
gerous experiment for any one to attempt to
abuse confidence reposed in him by the pro-
prietors of more than half the soil of England.
When it was accomplished at a later day, cir-
cumstances had materially changed. Of this
chapter on jurisprudence we think highly,
and published separately as a pamphlet it
would be useful.
We may notice one other interesting state-
ment. It is, " that sonic American loyalists,
in despair of maintaining the connection
" with the British tudnarchy, as personified

265

" by Lord North's administration, seriously
" opened communication with the second Pre-
" tender, the Charles Edward of 1745, offering
" him the independent crown of transatlantic
"Rritain." For this assertion Mr. Raikes
gives no authority, yet it is curious to reflect
how different a character might have been
given, not only to American progress, but to
modern history, had this idea been carried
into effect. As one of the accidents illus-
trating the destiny of the world, it deserves
more notice than most of those which Voltaire
collected, the spilling a cup of tea over the
dress of Queen Anne's favourite included.
The faults of this work and we are
sorry to say that they are numerous and
heavy—may be referred to the haste with
which it was written. Of the second
volume Mr. Raikes boasted " that it was not
" till the end of April, Mt, that ho was able
" to write a line " of it It is not by a pen that goes
off at score and never stops to revise, that a work
of this nature can be satisfactorily written.
No works demand more conscientious care
than educational works, and in spite of the
evident wish Mr. Raikes had to be useful, the
book, as a whole, can only remain (as long as
it may remain) a monument of ill-directed
labour, and of that busy unprofitable dili-
gence which builds card houses and traces
characters in the sand.

Jerusalem Revisited. By W. H. Bartlett. With
Illustrations. London : Arthur Hall.
Sucu of our readers as have not yet seen this
attractive volume will, we believe, thank us
for bringing it under their notice. The author
died while on his way home to England, after
preparing this work for the press, and " found
" a sepulchte in the waters of the Mediterra-
" neap, whose shores he had so often and so
" successfully illustrated." The literary merit
of this book is higher, we think, than that of
any of the writer's previous productions : the
present aspect of the Holy City is elaborately
described, and a history is given of the pro-
gress of the English Church and bishopric
from their foundation to the date of the
author's visit. The social results of the mis-
sion are stated to be highly satisfactory :
Whatever may be thought of the principle, in a religious
point of view, of this miseion, one thing is certain, it haa un-
deniably promoted the cause of European civilisation in
Jeetnialem. Wherever the English establish themselves,
they never fail to introduce a higher standard of comfort,
improved sanitary regulations, to give a stimulus to in-
duNtry and agriculture. The neighbouring peasantry find
their account in this new state of things, and are Mei eas-
ingly sensible that their interests are interwmen with those
of the Franks. They get not only a better market, but
better prices also. liut this increase of animal comforts is
the lowest result that has followed the settlement of the
English. A feeling of rivalry on the part of other sects
has led them to emulate the educational measures of the
mission, and a general activity has succeeded to the stag-
nant torpor of ignorance and sloth that has so long settled
over the Eastern churches. The society of the place has
been enlarged and improved. The consulates of the priu-
Meal foreign powers are no longer filled up by Syrians,
but by educated and often distinguished natives of the
different countries represented, who form an intellectual
and refined circle ; so that in winter, when the city is
visited by numerous travellers, as niaity as fifty or silty in-
vitations have been issued fur an evening party at the con-
sulate. The Franks in the city are now every way in the
ascendant; their numbers and influence are continually on
the increase, while in both respects the Turks are as
steadily losing ground.
In another place we read :
While other cities in the Turkish empire are falling to
ruin and decay, being depopulated and barbarieell, Jeru-
salem is rapidly springing up into new life. European
manners and European wants are bringing its
civilisation
and enterprising industry. Good hotels sre found to ac-
commodate moat travellers better than the Casa N nova, so
long the only shelter for the Frank pilgrim of whatever
nation or religion. There are shops, where all kinds of
European goods find a ready sale for their commodities ;
carpenters, watchmakers, blacksmiths, glaziers,
dyers, laundresses, shoemakers, ex , exercise their various
callings. There are three flourishing European tailors.
The daily markets are supplied abundantly with good
mutton ; and poultry and eggs are cheap. Many hundred
goats are kept for the sole purpose of supidying
Fruit the
and
. city
with milk ; and of late, cow's intik is to be had.
vegetables are abundant ; and good bread is made by
several bakers.
Much sympathy has recently been excited
by the distress of the Jewish inhabitants of
the Holy City. They number about 11,000,
and they are continually increasing from
the desire of the poorer brethren in all parts
of the world to visit the city of David, and
trom the belief among them, also, that the

1

WI

286

charitable funds devoted to their support aro
much larger than they really are. The Ger-
man and Polish Jews number about 4,000, and
it is said :
Their numbers are augmented by constant arrivals from
Europe. Their principal support is derived from the
money collected in the European synagogues, and which
is sufficient fur an allowance of about 11. 10s. per annum
for each person. Most of those who yearly arrive have
spent their little savings on the journey, and trust to this
fund and to any trade they may know for a livelihood.
But these hopes are cruelly disappointed ; 11. 10s. per
annum is a pitiful income in a place where water costs
from threepence to fivepence per donkey load of four
gallons, and the majority of this people are compelled to beg
water during a great part of the year.

The Spanish community, including the
Oriental Jews, in number 8,000 or 7,000, are
still worse off
Not only have the majority of these Jews no trades, but
they have no allowance from the fund of the community,
which is burdened with an increasing debt of two million
piastres, about 20,0001. The money collected abroad is
not enough to pay the interest upon this debt, which is
about 151. per day. Every Friday the synagogue servants
go to the houses of those few who are a little better off,
and beg loaves of bread, which they then distribute among
the most needy. The disease and suffering occasioned by
bad food, close crowded dwellings, and scarcity of water,
are beyond description, and would surely, if known, awaken
the compassion and active benevolence of happy England.
Any one of the medical residents can testify that death
from starvation is not uncommon.

The munificent subscription lately raised
for the relief of these wretched people must
afford them some temporary relief, yet the
increase in their numbers from immigration,
only to be checked it seems by the extremity
of famine, inspires serious apprehension for
their future state. It is strange that while in
other parts of the world the Jews form pros-
perous communities, they should in the city
of their fathers, which they still fondly cling
to as their home, be plunged in the deepest
distress, and be dependent on charity for the
means of dragging on a wretched existence.
As Turkish power declines in Jerusalem
Greek influence increases. Russian wealth
is supposed to be freely spent to extend the
possessions of the Greeks in Jerusalem and
its environs. Mr. Bartlett says :

It must be remembered that the Emperor of Russia is
bead of the Greek Church ; that " there are two almighties
(autocratores:—one in heaven and one in St. Petersburg."
During a period of several years, the Greek convent has
been gradually extended over one-fourth of habitable Jeru-
salem. by the purchase of houses which have been con-
nected with the convent, by means of arches thrown over
the intervening streets. Of late, not only the houses im-
mediately contiguous, but buildings and plots of ground in
every part of the city, have been bought up by a Greek
ecclesiastic, who being a native of Turkey can legally pur-
chase. The convent cannot legally purchase land, but it
is allowed in law to become possessor of property left to it
by will on the death of the purchaser. The archimandrite
Nikephoros has revenues so inexhaustible, that there can
be no doubt as to their source.
-

The natural activity of the Greek people is
fast turning these acquisitions to excellent
account :

Until very recently, no part of these great possessions
was cultivated ; but within the last five years, many thou-
sand mulberry and olive trees have been planted in the
neighbourhood of Jerusalem ; the most unpromising hills,
apparently mere masses of rock, have been cleared with
the aid of gunpowder, the rich soil exposed, walls built,
terraces formed, vines planted, and small annual crops
raised between the trees. Silk factories and houses are
being built. At present public roads, twenty feet wide, are
being made and walled in across the hills and valleys be-
tween the Convent of the Cross and Jerusalem, a distance
of twenty minutes, in order to prevent passengers from
trespassing upon the plantations in progress. Gradually
one piece after another is fenced in, and already the rides
around Jerusalem are much interfered with by the
boundary-walls, while the rich verdure is a beautiful addi-
tion to the hitherto barren landscape. Large numbers of
the Moslem and Christian Arab peasantry are employed in
building, ploughing, and planting; and they commonly,
while call ng down blessings on the Greek convent, term
the Patriarch " Aboo Dahab," (the Father of Gold.) The
corrupt Eifendies are also well acquainted with the various
Russian coins, which are very common in the markets of
Jerusalem.
Thus, while diplomacy is exercised by the various Euro-
pean powers—while able Ministers are arranging the
Eastern question, and studying the ancient limits of the
sanctuaries, title-deeds are being accumulated in the Greek
convent, which the shock of war itself will not be able to
invalidate, and which must indisputably confirm the right
of the Russo-Greek purchasers to their possessions in Je-
rusalem and Palestine.
The Armenian convent now forms a corn
plete town, surrounded by a wall of its own,
and Mr. Bartlett gives an interesting descrip-
tion of the handsome palace recently erected
for the patriarch, containing the most spacious
and splendid apartments in Jerusalem. From

THE PRESS.

the progress making by the Greeks, it appears
probable that Jerusalem will at no distant
date fall under their dominion. _ _

On the subjects we have noticed, and on
many others relating to the present state of
Jerusalem, the volume contains much accu-
rate information, while as descriptive of the
antiquities of the Holy City, it is the latest
and most careful authority that can be con-
sulted.

Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional
History of the New Zealand Race. By Sir
George Grey, late Governor-in-Chief of
New Zealand. London: Murray.
HAD Sir George Grey shown only half as
much capacity for government as he has for
research into the mythological legends of the
people he was called upon to rule, he would
have left the affairs of New Zealand less in-
extricably confused than he did, though,
perhaps, in not quite so clear and satisfactory
a state as he now presents the ancient mytho-
logy of its aboriginies. But it is not our business
here to discuss Sir George Grey's merits as a
governor; we have only to bear witness to the
results of his untiring study for a period of
eight years of the language and customs of
the New Zealanders, and to his composition
of a work which will engage the attention of
learned men, and be a high authority upon
the mythological system of a semi-barbarous
but noble race, now rapidly disappearing from
the face of the earth.
The Polynesian mythology may be said to
belong to that physical theory of mythology
which is its most primitive form. The savage,
naturally observant, unable to unravel the
mysteries of nature, is constrained to refer
them to the power of a superior Being; hence
he personifies the different phenomena of
nature ; and the transition from a personifica-
tion of the elements themselves to the belief
that supernatural beings preside over and
direct those elements is easy and natural, and
the deities, and not the objects themselves,
speedily become the subjects of adoration
This is the true myth,. the pure form of
mythology ; but an addition is soon made in
the deification of the great chiefs and heroes
of the tribe at their death. Then the attri-
butes of the gods become soon so linked
together with the adventures and exploits of
these heroes that it is almost impossible to
decide where the mythology of a nation may
be said to cease and its history to commence.
In this respect the Polynesian system is no
exception to other systems of mythology. Its
unaccountable and extraordinary legends and
traditions are inextricably mixed up with a
vast amount of historical truth ; the perpetual
wars of rival chiefs, their forays, their mur-
ders and revenge, the emigration of a tribe
and the discovery of New Zealand, are all
more or less associated with the supernatural ;
and, although they bear the stamp of histori-
cal truth on most points, they nevertheless
are incontestably connected with traditions
and legends that belong to an anterior period,
but which, more or less embellished in every
age, have been handed down by the savage
high priests from generation to generation as
the sacred creed of the race—a creed, too, so
full of gross superstition and barbarous rites,
at once puerile and cruel, that it is melancholy
to reflect how so intellectual a race as the
Maoris are, could have been so long subservient
to so gross a system.
One curious feature in this Polynesian
mythology is the fact that the New Zealanders
appear to consider their religion as an allegory
from which they may draw important rules for
self-guidance in life, for a moral or proverb is
tacked to the end of every tradition, which, al-
though teaching rather shrewdness in their deal-
ings with their neighbours than any great reli-
gious doctrine or moral truth, nevertheless in
some measure proves the allegorical light in
which their traditions are regarded by the
Maoris themselves. B ut the mostnotable feature
throughout these legends is their thoroughly
indigenous and original quality; they are of a
pure home-growth, the product of the moun-
tains, forests, and sea-shores of their own native
island homes. There is no foreign ingredient
here ; they take the very oolour of the country ;

SATURDAY,

their gods wage war in canoes, and attack
fortified pahs built upon the top of inaccessible
hills; while their supreme virtue is that savage
virtue, valour; their supreme duty, revenge;
and all their other endowments the mere
human qualities of the race, and not in
any peculiarly exalted degree. They possess
the same contempt of death, the same noble-
ness of disposition, the same love of freedom
and of adventure, the same cunning shrewd.
ness of character, the same instinctive sagacity
which plans a successful attack or finds an
instant remedy in every emergency, the same
tenderness of heart, and the same poetic
imagination, which we find among the race at
this very day.
It would far exceed our limited space to
give in detail any of their legends, but their
" Theory of the Universe" is highly poetical,
and is worthy of attention:—" Men had but one
" pair of primitive ancestors ; they sprang
" from the vast heaven that exists above us,
" and from the earth which lies beneath us."
Such is their text of the origin of the human
race. Rangi and Papa, heaven and earth,
slave together; "and on that account there
" was as yet no world with its bright light,
" but darkness only, for the beings which
" existed." At last the gods of the beings,
worn out with this continued darkness, con-
sulted among themselves as to whether it
would not be better to slay their parents,
Rangi and Papa, or to rend them apart.
These deities were six in numbei—Tu-ma-
tauenga, the god of man ; Tane-mahuta, the
god of forests ; Rongo-ma-tane, the god of
cultivation ; Haumia-tikitiki, the god of
natural fertility ; Tangaroa, the god of fish
and reptiles; and Tawhiri-ma-tea, the god of
winds and storms. The first five agreed
among themselves that Rangi and Papa
should be separated, but the sixth grieved
greatly at the thought of his parents being
torn apart, and would not consent :

But at length, their plans having been agreed ou, to
Bongo-ma•tane, the god and father of the cultivated food
of man, rises up, that he may rend apart the heavens and
the earth ; he struggles, but he rends them not apart.
Lo, next, Tangaroa, the god and father of fish and reptiles,
rises up, that he may rend apart the heavens and the
earth; he also struggles, but he rends them not apart.
Lo, next, Haumia-tikitiki, the god and father of the food
of man which springs without cultivation, rises up and
struggles, but ineffectually. Lo, then, Tu•matauenga, the
god and father of fierce human beings, rises up and
struggles, but he, too, fails in his efforts. Then, at last,
slowly uprises Tane-mahuta, the god and father of forests,
of birds, and of insects, and he struggles with his parents ;
in vain he strives to rend them apart with his hands and
arms. Lo, he pauses ; his head is now firmly planted
on his mother the earth, his feet he raises up and rests
against his father the skies, he strains his back and limbs
with mighty effort. Now are rent apart Rangi and Papa,
and with cries and groans of woe they shriek aloud,
" Wherefore slay you thus your parents? Why commit
you so dreadful a crime as to slay us, as to rend your
parents apart?" But Tane-mahuts pauses not, he regards
not their shrieks and cries ; far, far beneath him he
presses down the earth; far, far above him he thrusts up
the sky.
Then the god of hurricanes and storms, dread-
ing that the world—
Should become too fair and beautiful, rises, fol-
lows his father to the realms above, and hurries to the
sheltered hollows in the boundless skies ; there he hides
■nd clings, and nestling in this place of rest he consults
long with his parent, and as the vast Heaven listens to the
suggestions of Tawhiri-ma•tea, thoughts and plans are
formed in his breast, and Tawhiri•ma-tea also understands
what he should do. Then by himself and the vast Heaven
were begotten his numerous brood, and they rapidly in-
creased and grew. Tawhiri•ma-tea despatches one of them
to the westward, and one to the southward, and one to
the eastward, and one to the northward; and he gives
corresponding names to himself and to his progeny the
mighty winds.
He next sends forth fierce squalls, whirlwinds, -lento
clouds, massy clouds, dark clouds, gloomy thick clouds,
fiery clouds, clouds which precede hurricanes, clouds of
fiery black, clouds reflecting glowing red light, clouds
wildly drifting from all quarters and wildly bursting, clouds
of thunder storms, and clouds hurriedly flying. In the
midst of these Tawhiri-ma•tea himself sweeps wildly on.
Alas! alas ! then rages the fierce hurricane ; and whilst
Tane-mahuta and his gigantic forests still stand, uncon-
scious and unsuspecting, the blast of the breath of the
mouth of Tawhiri-ma tea smites them, the gigantic trees
are snapt off right in the middle ; alas ! alas ! they are
rent to atoms, dashed to the earth, with boughs and
branches torn and scattered, and lying on the earth, trees
and branches all alike left for the insect, for the grub, and
for loathsome rottenness.

From the forests he sweeps down into
the seas, and lashes them into their utmost
fury; and Tangitroa, the father of fish a►dd
reptiles, hides himself in the depths of his

"~.

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