University of Otago Library Letter: Reverend Samuel Marsden to Reverend Josiah Pratt, 22 December 18 1823 Reverend Samuel Marsden Author Reverend Josiah Pratt Receiver text Letter New South Wales, Australia 22 December 18 1823 3 July 1824 Notes about where the letter was created: Parramatta, New South Wales eng text/html 321 x 205 mm 4 leaves 6 pages reformatted digital Hocken Collections' Title: Marsden's Answers to Queries Relating to Cannibalism of New Zealand Natives Parramatta -33.814525,151.003448 Decr 1823 Sir Cannibalism Cannibalism New Zealanders Committees Committee Missionaries Missionaries Mr Kendall Rangheehoo -36.809285,175.061835 Kiddee Kiddee -35.225429,173.946319 Death Death Dead Dead Battles Battle God God Funeral rites and ceremonies Funeral Mowhee Priest Sepulchral monuments Sepulchre Grief Mourning Blood Blood Prisoners Prisoners Master Children Children Holy, The Sacred Potatoe Bones Bones Crime Crime Bay Of Islands -35.17886,174.169586 River Thames 51.512161,0.113876 Belief and doubt Belief Mowheeboo Revd Saml Marsden Pratt Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_001 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_002 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_003 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_004 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_005 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_006 http://www.marsdenarchive.otago.ac.nz/MS_0057_106_007 MS_0057_106 Trimble 106 CMS Number 11 The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. University of Otago Library 2015-06-11T14:39:11+12:00 machine generated eng Letter: Reverend Samuel Marsden to Reverend Josiah Pratt, 22 December 18 1823 Reverend Samuel Marsden University of Otago Library Digitised from the Hocken Library Collection Number MS-0057/106 Trimble 106 CMS Number 11 Digitised by the Marsden Online Archive Library of Congress Subject Headings Letter Maori Subject Headings Reverend Josiah Pratt 22 December 18 1823 New South Wales, Australia 3 July 1824 British English Cannibalism Committees Missionaries Death Dead Battles God Funeral rites and ceremonies Sepulchral monuments Grief Blood Prisoners Children Holy, The Bones Crime Rites and ceremonies Belief and doubt Parramatta Decr 1823 Cannibalism New zealanders Committee Missionaries Kendall Rangheehoo Kiddee kiddee Death Dead Battle God Funeral Mowhee Priest Sepulchre Mourning Blood Prisoners Children Sacred Potatoe Bones Crime Ceremonies Bay of islands River thames Belief Mowheeboo Saml Marsden Pratt Parramatta Decr 22d 1823 Revd & dear Sir Agreeable to your request I have made every enquiry respecting the Cannibalism of the New Zealanders & beg to return the following answers to the Queries proposed by your Committee. Question (1) “What acts of the New-Zealanders eating human Flesh, have fallen under your own actual Observations?” Answer Some of the Missionaries never saw them eat human flesh. Mr Kendall never did & I could not learn that any of the Missionaries at Rangheehoo ever did. At Kiddee Kiddee on Shunghees Hongi Hika return from war some Slaves were killed and eat. The Missionaries saw some human flesh dressed for eating. Question (2) “On what occasions were these perpetrated”? Answer As a sacrifice or satisfaction for the death of a Relative or Friend. The dead Body is considered holy food, or holy sacrifice, & the Persons who eat it are holy after a Battle the heads of the Cheifs chiefs are cut off and laid by themselves, and when this is done, the Brains, and the whole of the inside of the Scull are taken out, & prayers are offered up to their God & the funeral ode is sung the very same ode they believe which the first man Mowhee sung over the dead Body of his Son. When the sacrifices are offered up at too great a distance for their Friends to partake of them, the Priests take some small splinters of Wood & pass them thro’ through the flesh of the sacrifice & when they return home bring them with them when they are put amongst the food, when dressed & afterwards drawn thro’ through the Mouth of the Priest in the presence of the Cheifs chiefs who went to war & prayers are offered up at the time and then the Splinters of wood are taken to their family Sepulchre and deposited there. When the Cheif has eaten the Sacrifice at a distance and returns home with the peices pieces of wood, he is considered unholy having touched a dead Body, but when the Priest has received the peices pieces of wood from him & he has been sprinkled by the Priest between the Shoulders with water, he is cleansed from all his pollutions pollution & admitted into the Society of his Friends again— It may here be remarked, that every man who goes to war & kills and eats another, is considered as having done the act of a God. When the Cheifs chiefs return from Battle and have any particular cause for rejoicing or mourning they will kill a Slave or Slaves and eat them. Question (3) “By what circumstances were such acts accomplished?” Answer I have heard of Slaves being killed in cool blood as well as in moments of revengeful anger, & one young Woman was killed and eat in cool blood when I was then at this time near my lodgings. Question (4) “Is the Cannibalism of the New Zealanders confined to their prisoners of war”? Answer It is, excepting the offering & eating those who are killed in Battle. Question (5) “Is the killing and eating Prisoners of war limited to any specific period after they are taken”? Answer Prisoners of war are seldom killed but are kept as Slaves; but they are liable to be killed by their Master at all times with respect to the Women and Children they generally save what they can of them. Question (6) “Is it a custom amongst the New Zealanders to kill & eat those who are convicted of Thefts?” Ans[wer] Thefts are of different kinds common and sacred. Sacred thefts are often punished with death. I saw one young woman who was killed for sacred theft such as breaking into the sweet Potatoe Houses when tabooed or into the sepulchre of the dead to carry away the bones, or into any sacred ground, especially if the offender be a slave— If any of their own Friends are guilty of theft, they are liable to be punished some other way— The New Zealanders do not think that theft is a crime of that magnitude generally, as to merit death. Question (7) “Is there any particular class of Persons to whom the liability to be killed & eaten is confined? Ans[wer] There is no class of Persons that are liable to be killed and eaten in cool blood, there is always a reason assigned for such an act which generally originates in superstition & very distinct from Cannibalism, tho’ the whole system of their religious Ceremonies is interwoven with the eating of human Flesh. Question (8) “Are there any Restrictions with respect to age in persons who are killed & eaten by the New Zealanders?” Answer Persons of all ages are liable to be killed in battle, those who are, or have been the greatest Warriors are the most aimed at. I have not heard of any old persons, or very young Children having been killed as sacrifices, but those who are grown up. Question (9) Will you state such well authenticated facts relative to the practice of Cannibalism by the New Zealanders as have been communicated to you by others, distinguishing those from such as you are acquainted with from your own Knowledge? Answer I have had many Conversations with the Cheifs chiefs at the Bay of Islands, the River Thames &c &c respecting Cannibalism. It is admited by all as a Fact, & practised by all as a religious ceremony in their wars. Every Cheif when he falls in Battle expects to be eaten as it is their universal custom, but the New Zealanders have not been known to kill and eat one another privately, without there had been some previous injury, meriting that Punishment, according to their Laws. Question (10) “What account do the Natives give of the origin, object & advantages of eating the flesh of their fellow Creatures?” Answer It appears to have originated from a belief that Mowheeboo, the first cause of all sacrificed his Son and eat him. Their object is to satisfy their superstitious minds, to appease the Deity & the Manes of their departed Friends. It cannot however be doubted but that they gratify their appetites & revengeful feelings, at the same time their custom does not originate in this gratification, but in superstition. I am Dear & Revd Sir Yours faithfully signed Saml Marsden Revd J. Pratt &c &c &c Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 37MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 6d674bb99da910ba5364583cfe2a9016 ACEMC 2922 4494 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:33:37.12 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 61.3 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:41:47 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 37MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 c19866e723eb7e7d9995e4a19b7cf4a7 ACEMC 2898 4524 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:32:45.81 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 61.2 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:40:34 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 38MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 ec8f97bf9b9101224b6220c4d14f6b7f ACEMC 2940 4530 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:31:08.08 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 60.9 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:39:54 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 39MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 5098f5061846df1289be1fdbcaa6f06c ACEMC 2982 4572 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:35:23.08 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 60.2 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:42:27 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 38MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 1a06ed81e260e5fd4efb6b8add4f059f ACEMC 2940 4572 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:34:19.03 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 60.5 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:42:07 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 39MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 75ce7db7b5ba40b8925ed5fc257a3da5 ACEMC 2994 4602 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:33:24.34 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 59.9 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:41:01 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz Hocken Archive Reference Number MS-0057/106 38MB image/tif 6.0 Uncompressed MD5 46cc5fcd1812936c4cda54f8f96a5a6f ACEMC 2952 4608 RGB manuscript Hakena MS-0057/106 205 mm 321 mm 2014:04:30 08:32:30.03 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit digital still camera Canon Canon EOS 6D 11.0 1 Manual 0220 1 11.0 6.9 1.4 Multi-segment tungsten flash did not fire 50.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 60.1 mm) 0 Subject is illuminated from the front side. Auto Focus Used Normal Digitised as part of the Mining Marsden Project in 2013/2014 8, 8, 8 integer 3 2014:04:30 10:40:09 University of Otago Library, Reprographics Unit Processing actions undertaken to: prepare the image for online digital use and maintain the integrity of the image. Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows 7 Cropped item to remove excess border and straightened the image. The manuscript images, transcripts and metadata displayed on the Marsden Online Archive site are governed by a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 New Zealand (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ) copyright agreement (available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nz/). Please contact the Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand for more information. Hocken Collections, University of Otago Library, Dunedin, New Zealand. hocken@otago.ac.nz