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Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 1, Issue 12, 7 June 1849, Page 2

Letter to the Maories on their Decrease in Numbers, and on the increase of Sickness among them in some parts of the Country, during the last seventy years.

"Friends, Maories,—Ask any of your old chiefs, or any of your well-informed men, the following question-—Are tho Maories increasing in numbers? Most of them will tell you in reply that the tribes in some parts of the country are not only not increasing in men, hut that every year more people die than nre born; in the words of one of your chiefs, " the Maori race are drying up in certain districts, like a river when there is no rain," Do you think thi? decay of the Maori has been going oil ever since the arrival of the first settlers in New Zealand ? That this has not been the case mast be obvious to you all, because, according to your own traditions, your ancestors came to New Zealand in serin canoej, aad as there could

not liave been more tlian three hundred men, women, and children in these canoes, you must have increased quickly to have become so numerous as you are at present. As a clear proof that this wasting away of the Maori ( in certain parts has only lately commenced, listen lo ihc state you were in when Captain Cook first came to New Zealand. Your grandfathers and greatgrandfathers were then living, and he dtsciibcs litem "as having perfect health j that out of nil the great numbers who crowded about him, he never saw a single person who appeared lo have any bodily complaint; nor amrjn ; the numbers he saw naked did he percicve the slightest eruption upon the skin, or any mark that nu eruption had left behind." Captain Cook also says—" I saw a great number of old men, many of them very old, as was seen by the loss of their bair and their teeth, yet none of these very old people were decrepit, and although not so strong as the young, yet they were as happy and talkative." Now, reflect for a few minutes on this account of your ancestors, only seventy years ago, and think how different in some parts of the country you nre now. Consider how many of your children and yourselves have sores on your bodies, or marks on your necks of your having had sores—how many of you are unable to work in consequence of sickness —how many of your children die before they can walk, and how many of your young men before thoy become middle aged. Think, how few old men there are in certain parts among you, and how often you now see an old man who has survived all bis children. The Governor has already shown to you his great anxiety about your health, by the introduction of vaccination. Your old friends, the Missionaries, have also done much for the improvement of your health j they have perhaps told you everything that I can tell you, and have probably repeated it over and over again. Still, good words cannot be too often spoken, and good advice is always worth reading. In my future letters, therefore, 1 shall endeavour to point out the causes which have produced so much sickness, and such a decrease in certain parts of the country among the Maories, and I will tell you how you may possibly avoid, with the assistance of God, the evils which press upon your healih.. As I know you do not like long letters, I shall deler until the next Messenger saying more, in the mean time I wish you would send me an account of how many people died last year in your village, and how many were burn, and tiny other thing about your health, because this information might assist me in letting you know how to prevent liekness, which is the sole object of my writing to you. (To bo continued.)