The Press.
London, England, 1857-03-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

They are, also, procurable at Galignani's in the Rue
Vivienne, and in most of the book•shops and stalls of the
Pslsis Royal and Rue St. Honors.

Against foreign " spies " of a peculiar kind the
author offers a suggestion. Our ow•n expe-
rience of travelling in France did not give us
reason for complaining of the extraordinary
sort of surveillance which ➢ir. Musgrave men•
tions here :

There is one point to which I feel bound to direct the
attention and wariness of any of my readerscontemplating
for the first time a continental excursion. Whether in
France, Switzerland, Italy or lie many, Spain or Portugal,
in fact, throughout Europe, whenever the traveller finds
himself quartered for the day or night in a bed-chamber
having a door of communication with an adjoining apart-
ment, let hint make a point of rendering it impossible fur
any one in that room to obtain range of insight into the
one he is to occupy. In nine cases out of ten, if he
closely inspect the upper and lower panels of such a door,
he will detect little holes, at various heights, bored by a
knife, nail, or anything else that will serve the purpose,
through the thin edges of the panels where they enter the
style or framework. The foreigners term them petits
jiidas " : a term sufficiently appropriate to lurking•places
through which privacy is thus treacherously and disre
putably invaded. The most effectual mode of defeating
such infamous assaults is to carry among one's toilette
articles a small pocket hammer and a few very sharp iron
tacks, by which an over-coat, wrapper, or dressing-gown
may, in a moment, be suspended or stretched across the
breadth of the door, and taken down and replaced at will.
Sometimes all that it may be requisite to do is merely to
remove a light cabinet, or escritoire, or chest of drawers,
from its place to the door thus requiring a screen. The
morbid passion for thus boring doors and partitions is in-
conceivably general; and I remember a Polish Count
informing :ne once, at Berne, of the number he had made
in one week ! I could not help wishing his ears had been
nailed to the doorposts as a ii, is to his dirty work.

There are many other passages in these
volumes which read with quaint but fresh
effect. The author is an enthusiast about
cathedrals, and we appreciate his admiration
of "Chartres," which is, indeed, worth visiting,
and is not sufficiently known by English
tourists. The iconoclasts of the Revolution
were not able to destroy the great Churches
in the provinces. The cognoscenti in French
cathedrals say, in order to explain their beau-
ideal, " Take the portal of Rheims, the nave
" of Amiens, the choir of Beauvois, and the
" spire of Strasburg." But to describe these
buildings would require the pen of Ruskin
or Victor Hugo; and Mr. Musgrave has not
talent for architectural word painting. He
takes nearly eighty pages to describe La
Grande Chartreuse, and writes with sound
sense and strong argument against monastic
institutions. We cordially agree with his
opinions on those points. He, perhaps, does
not quite understand that many eccentric and
half-witted people are to be found swarming
in the continental monasteries. Some politi-
cal economists say that vast standing armies
are another sort of " Poor Laws," draining off
into the service of the State vagrant able-
bodied labour; and monasteries in some re-
spects arc not unlike Bedlam hospitals. But,
though we have a strong distaste to those
institutions, we must say that their popularity
in foreign countries must rest on profound
psychological causes. Dislike of active life,
morbid temperaments, excess of imagination,
physical indolence, and other causes, must
doubtless contribute to the preservation of
monasteries like La Grande Chartreuse.

Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders; with Illustrations of their
Manners and Customs. By Edward Short-
land, M.A. Second Edition. London :
Longmans.
ABOUT eighteen years since, " New Zealand"
was an object of much interest to the pro-
moters of emigration. Since then, the dis-
cove►y of the gold regions in California and
Australia, as well as the increased develop-
ments in Texas and elsewhere, have tended to
diminish the attractiveness of New Zealand.
Yet the islands in themselves possess great
value and resources. They are naturally pro-
ductive, and are favourable to animal life.
The climate is temperate, and water is in
abundance ; and we have little doubt but that
at the end of this century New Zealand will
display not only a highly prosperous, but a
remarkably civilised community.
To the philosophical history of the abori•
pines in New Zealand. Mr. Shortland has
contributed ninny interesting details. His
work is of ethnological value, and oauuot by

SATURDAY,

overlooked by the future historian of New
Zealand. The first seven chapters of his

volume give the results of the author's per-
sonal observations and inquiries touching the
traditions and superstitions of the New
Zealanders. The concluding portion of the
work is devoted to the examination of the
social condition and manners of the aboriginal
people; but on this last part of the subject
we have read fuller and more valuable autho-
rities.

As we have intimated, the interest of the
volume is of a philosophical character. In
the preface to the first edition the writer
observes:—

But little is generally known of the superstitious prac.
tices of the New Zealanders. The missionaries, who, from
their knowledge of the language, alone had it in their
power for many years to converse freely with the native
race, seem to have avoided all inquiries on such subjects.
They came to teach a religion, and not to learn the
principles of superstitions, which, however valuable
in reference to matters of ethnological interest, they
regarded as having fur their author the great enemy of
mankind.

All missionaries have been more or less in-
fluenced by such views, though some of the
Jesuits (with the characteristic energy and
acuteness of their order) have undoubtedly
been exceptions to that rule. It seldom
happens that the purely philosophic nature
is also a missionary one ; and it would seem
that; different kinds of moral natures aro
respectively required for the discovery and
the diffusion of truth. What care it behoves
us to take of our conduct in dealing with
savages, or partially civilised communities, is
shown in the following anecdote :

On the establishment of British Government in New
Zealand, petty thefts were of frequent occurrence in the
European settlements, but it was found difficult to apply
the punishments usually inflicted by our law for such
offences. Sons of powerful chiefs were every now and
then the offenders, and their tribe would not submit to
the indignity of their being imprisoned in a common
gaol, although they were always willing to give compensa-
tion. Governor Fitzroy very wisely adopted the plan of
making the punishment a fourfold payment of the value
of the goods stolen, which, being sanctioned by prece-
dent drawn from the Bible, was universally accepted as
satisfactory.

In our intercourse with all aborigines our
officials should never forget that their con-
duct should (not be unworthy of the princi-
ples which they profess, and of the religion of
the country which they serve.
The traditions of the New Zealanders are of
three classes. The first relates to the origin
of the world and man ; the next relates to
demigods, or " heroes'; and the last is of a
more historical character. The natives attach
great sentimental value to the first class ; but
they principally believe (as far as their history
is concerned) in the last. We cannot say how
far the author is competent to decipher tho
legendary narratives of the New Zealanders.
He may have more ready powers of credence
than are desirable in a collector of legendary
ana. For example, in speculating on how
New Zealand was peopled, Mr. Shortland
thus describes the " marvellous event" of a
canoe making a sixty miles' coasting voyage in
a high gale of wind :

One afternoon in the month of June, 13t 1, while I was
at Tauranga, a storm from the north-east came on
suddenly, and soon increased to a violence I had seldom
known equalled. About nightfall, when the gale was at
its height, I was startled by hearing the shouts and exclama-
tions of many voices uniting with the roaring of the wind.
What was my surprise to learn that a canoe had just
arrived from Opotiki, a place distant about sixty miles to
the eastward, and that the noise proceeded from the friends
and relations of the crew, who were naturally transported
with joy at their safety.
The event appeared to me so marvellous, that I went
early next morning to see the canoe and its crew, to be
the better assured of the fact. The canoe I found hauled
up on the beach as far as high-water mark, with the cargo,
consisting of baskets of kumara and potato, still on board.
It measured about forty feet in length, with an extreme
width acd depth of about Live feet. The hull or lower part
was formed from the trunks of two trees, dovetailed
together after the peculiar method of the country, which
consults strength more than uniformity of shape. And
above this was fastened a topside or gunwale of the usual
width of about ten or twelve inches. There was no pro-
tection against the break of the sea, except that offered by
a sort of deck constructed of raupo or flag, by which the
bow was covered in a temporary manner for a few feet—a
safeguard generally adopted when making coasting voyages
of any length. The craw, nine Sue ablebodied fellows,
were seated on the ground, with a numerous crowd around
them, listening to the account of the near escapee they had
had on their voyage.

There is, really, nothing " marvellous " In tho
fact. Ur. Shcirtlauci forgets bay (awl pov.