The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

UNCLE OLIVER'S TRAVELS IN PERSIA.
In 2 Vols. London, Charles Knight, 1838.
These are delightful little volumes for children. Uncle
Oliver is a venerable old gentleman, and as great a favou-
rite with " harmless little men" as Burchell in the " Vicar
of Wakefield." He employs his leisure in superintending
the studies of three little orphans, to whom he stands in the
double relation of an uncle and a parent, and to them he
relates the story of his travels in Persia. The style is
simple, the incidents narrated striking, and the information
euriou.s and valuable, The wood-cuts are numerous and
well executed.

NEW ZEALAND.
Br J. S. POLACK, ESQ
London: Bentley, 1836.
14r. Polack is a member of the Colonial Society of
London, and in that capacity he resided in New Zealand,
between the years 1831, and 1837. Of his travels and
adventures in that hitherto imperfectly known region, the
volumes now submitted to the public, merely purport to be
a faithful narrative. They are in a high degree interest-
ing and instructive—perhaps altogether the best picture of
savage life published within the last quarter of a century,
'with the exception of Captain Bonneville's Travels in the
R, Far West," edited by Washington Irving. Mr. Polack
did not content himself with witnessing the manners of the
natives along the coast in the habit of seeing and traffick-
ing with the Europeans. Accompanied by ten stout
natives, who deemed it no indignity to carry an European
On their shoulders, though they would have suffered them-
s€lves to be devoured by their enemies rather than perform
a menial office for any other than a " white man," he tra-
versed the interior for several weeks, for the purpose of
entering into treaties of traffic with the native chiefs. At
one village where he was hospitably received, a council was
Called, in order that he might explain to the assembled
Warriors and chiefs the object of his journey. This
Ile appears to have done in a very effective speech,
for he was congratulating himself upon the result when
an old Tory got up to denounce what appeared
In him a departure from the wisdom of his ancestors. Mr.
Polack tells us that this New Zealand Lyndhurst " took
Short runs round the circle formed by the assembled multi-
tude," for the purpose of collecting his scattered thoughts
and giving effect to his oratory, when he thus launched
forth in defence of ancestorial wisdom :
" The Europeans, be said, were overrunning the land, so
that wars must in a short time cease ; and what were the plea.
cures left to the people when they should be restricted killing
aeir enemies and preserving their beads as undoubted memo-
rialsef triumph ? (pointing with his short hani to those placed
it poles that were opposite to us). War was his delight;
~suad been the sole pleasure pursued by his ancestors (te-
Va), and ought to be so of their children. And was it so?
Iv° ; the white men had come among them, and the warrior
ahaisi:Ohliged to give way to women and slaves, whose utmost
a, tY consisted in paddling canoes, rounding fern-root, or
41!Ping flax (imitating those various employments). Yet, but
ac,i,ttle while, and not an enemy would be found to combat
la.aQ; they would' all become women and flax-dressers. Who
Hied fire-arms? For his part be could not take aim, and
trY were useless to him, and therefore ought to be unser-
"eeable to every bodythey did scarce any damage in
.etuiPariaan to the weapons of the nation handed down to
avina by the fathers of the land. He did not want to see a
(trite face; he had heard, to the northward, (pointing in that
hrenti°ll,) that a chief was made to feel ashamed in killing
8,3 °wit slaves, and that the bodies were obliged to be eaten in
a-erneY and silence. He could scarcely give credit to so foul
vroreport, and attributed it to the invention of persons who
impose on the natural easiness of his disposition. It
aa.:" not, should not be. No—he would sooner cat all the
oilete men himself than be reduced to a state so truly abject.
?„„e he imitated the action of gnawing his right arm.)
and" This sally created a general laugh, in which I joined,
en„ which heartily tickled the irascible veteran himself; who
41,"timed : No! he would live to spite the white men,
At
brea his fast on a fresh slave every morning. The very
(huofk
sas the country were arrayed against the new comers,
An(laneing our adventures in connection with Tameteri.)
itiv Where did the party intend going ? Down the Kaipara
Who et', and every spot of which was sacred, for a race of chiefs
ghowYrould never allow us to land on those shores without
a, Ing their resentment in a signal manner. For his part,
vii eanne should leave Matakoki Wangare (the name of the
will °e)' nor should any white man again visit them. They
trib Perhaps,' added he, persuade us not to punish the
an," of Wai.ma, who have destroyed our Wai-tapas, dug up
I t',,,Px'avisions and stolen the property of our people. Never
N4'hue flax grow,' and our forests stand ; if we want defiling,
,ave our women Coif make them (be had seven wives, not
--li`d"a' handmaids) food be our object, we have slaves
i° Plant for us • and of them we shall never be deficient so
:ag] as our enemies exist. No canoe shall leave this village
ZE.,-et the white man return to his residence. The tribes
be -lig whom he has taken up his abode nzay be our friends
it but have they not been our enemies (Here he re.
Couned a series of feuds that had existed in the times of his
tiaegeeanitors.) No ; let the white man go. Who sent for him ?
be furmtheerfr,rantbeyond ea to us • he has seen us ; what does
The N • Lrqshim ba'ck.'
and the
veteran
Zealand Reformers, however, carried the day,
laow Tory was left in a complete minority.
. ever
with the small. present put him in such good humour
beitne white man," that, like a great statesman nearer
the ,he declared himself disposed to give every facilty to
law though he had working
what his brethren had pronounced the
had still misgivings with respect to the
rietY of its adoption.
fraxhn,inng the New Zealanders cannibalism prevails to a
aeet4nl extent. witness select the following description of a
„ of this kind ed by the author r—
hea& was introduced to that part of the enclosure where the
Were* ?t. the enemy that had been captured during the week
eountl2l,aeed on poles, in front of the hcuse of the chief. I
of thee ins: there were three more placed on poles in front
1,58 th ntrance-gate to this part of the village, behind which
a4l e eerne • terY The latter had been in that situation for
taste th
oath previous. They brought to recollection the refined
tate, ,pat Prompted a more civilised people to decorate the
0raa,...," their metropolis, the emporium of the fine arts, with
clitnoTlejlts of a similar nature, some a sixty years since ;" the
Profassi_nuanee of which has been destructive to an itinerant
ti.eospriolioduenne;e,fr we are told by Walpole, in his Private Cor-
that at a certain date be went to the Tower of
inhu n, and passed under the new heads at Temple Bar,
ere
half saw people making a trade by letting spy-glasses at
Th;Penny a look."
vioao se heads had chanted the war song but four days pre-
and ; the bodies which had appertained to them danced the
xreariaalta, and had since been consigned to the oven, and
abhorrent wholly devoured by the natives. Curious to see this
request food, after it had undergone a culinary process,
traairit'Led a minor chief to show me some ; he accordingly
branni7t d
da water, where the provisions are always kept, and
At e own a small flax basket, containing the human viand.
Btate,7l view I should have taken it for fresh pork in a boiled
stated Navin the same pale, cadaverous colour. sly informant
With rig t was a piece of the lower part of the thigh, grasping
vane hand that part of my body, illustrative of what he ad.
logietds: It appeared very much shrunk ; and on my observ-
.l.",Tst have appertained to a boy, the head of its possessor,
tve was pointed out to me, apparently a man of forty-
,,Years
of
age.
sot, sight of this piece of mortality afforded the chief
lieke,e'easure, for he stretched out his tongue, pretending to
th, the food, and gave other significant signs, indicative of
As delight he felt in partaking of human flesh."
ia..l-tx regards the religion of the New Zealanders, Mr.
t °lank found them everywhere sunk in the grossest idola-
07't,the slaves of priests, only distinguishable from the rest
the People by their superior cunning and knavery. They
arc'-owever, simple in their habits, and, when not at war,
encllY and even affectionate and trustworthy in their in-
tercourse both with each other and with strangers. Flax
8 the chief production of the country which is well wooded,
Well watered, and from all appearances capable of most
I::.ofitable cultivation. These volumes are embellished
,Ph numerous plates illustrative of the scenery of New
-eoaland, and the manners, customs, religious worship, and
ulre nottumental buildings of its inhabitants. We particularly
mend then-i to the especial notice of Missionary So-
etles.

1:-APTISING BEL t, s.—T he following paragraph
4111 be read with some interest, we think, by those who re-
flerober that the somewhat similar ceremony to baptising bells
aConsecrating Churches, excites at present a good deal of
—.6
itention here : The ceremony of baptising the new bells
t„.,Bt. loch attracted a numerous crowd to that Church yes-
redYternoon. Just at the entrance of the choir, under a
p.erve
erected lvet canopy, the four bells, enveloped in silver tissue,
81" Pended ; and on the eastern side of the choir was
tteta magnificent throne under a rich canopy, in red vel-
ate:tnd gold, for the Archbishop. Shortly after four a detach-
Church of grenadiers of the National Guards entered the
tit 4
few and were drawn up on either side of the choir, and
minutes after the Queen, accompanied by the Princess
proefrientine and Madame Adelaide, entered the Church, and
Theeeeded to seats of state placed for them near the bells.
I'i3 pAr.chbishop preceded by his cross-bearer, and carrying
ver:,osier and mitre, then advanced to his throne and de.li-
te an eloquent homily suited to the occasion ; after which
wonted to consecrate the bells according to the accus-
,..o formalities observ-ed on these occasions. —Galignani."
eonsells then are baptised to make a noise on—Churches are
voieeerated to be silent in or only to resound to the melodious
of the preachers and singers. Dr. Nicholls and the
nd, as our readers remember, lately promoted a Bill
keerterliament to prevent vestries from making a noise in con-
bo,;„`ed Churches so that the priesthood have an art of tab-
eitCl things as they suit their purposes, and make them
Iviu:r instruments of noise or of silence. A baptised Bell
aors fMiadame Adelaide and the Archbishop of Paris for spon-
liseci'u'fils its functions when it sounds long and loud ; a bap-
Dr,,(,),1: consecrated building fulfils its functions, accordingto
eee illeholls, when it is closed against all kinds of noise,
eektt the noise of the preachers a few short minutes once a
11444 1) EA l'es DoING.—H is Reverence the Dean
iigwore:.ui,,cd taxtr,g the co:Li-1,11114y ok per et:a.t.., by rt.-
iateig that all fees shall in future be paid in British stg.,
his ip,44 of old Currency It is expected that this will increase
"%pie about 1001. per annum.--Jers9 News'