Fig. 67.—Part of diplomatic packet.
The Maori used a kind of hieroglyphical or symbolical way of communication; a chief inviting another to join in a war party sent a tattooed potato and a fig of tobacco bound up together, which was interpreted to mean that the enemy was a Maori and not European by the tattoo, and by the tobacco that it represented smoke; he therefore roasted the one and eat it, and smoked the other, to show he accepted the invitation, and would join him with his guns and powder. Another sent a water-proof coat with the sleeves made of patchwork, red, blue, yellow, and green, intimating that they must wait until all the tribes were united before their force would be water-proof, i. e., able to encounter the European. Another chief sent a large pipe, which would hold a pound of tobacco, which was lighted in a large assembly, the emissary taking the first whiff, and then passing it round; whoever smoked it showed that he joined in the war. See Te Ika a Maui, by Rev. Richard Taylor, London, 1870.
RECORD OF EXPEDITION.
Under this head, many illustrations of which might be given besides several in this paper, see account of colored pictographs in Santa Barbara County, California, page 34 et seq., Plates I and II, also Lean-Wolf’s trip, Figure 60, page 158. Also, Figures 135 and 136, pages 214 and 215.