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KO NGA WAKA TE KARAKA,
A CHRISTIAN CHIEF OF WAIKATO, WITH HIS ATTENDANT BOY.
THE progress of Christianity amongst the New Zealanders has been very rapid during the last few years, and its effects have wrought a great change in the habits and social condition of the people. One of the most immediate of these results is the abolition of the fierce and bloody struggles that were constantly carried on between hostile tribes--conflicts, marked with all the horrors of cannibalism and every species of savage indignity and revenge. Now, owing to the influence of their newly-adopted religion, these civil wars have almost ceased--former feuds are forgotten,--and the Maori cultivates his plantation in the sunshine of peace. Tribes that hailed the teachers of religion with cannibal feasts, that shook the mangled limbs of mortal clay in the face of the missionary's wife, are now enjoying in tranquility the blessings of the gospel of peace.
The missionaries who have been instrumental in thus paving the way for civilization in New Zealand, belong chiefly to the Church and Wesleyan Societies. The former, under Bishop Selwyn, have upwards of thirty missionaries employed in the Northern Island: Pahia at the Bay of Islands has long been the head quarters of this mission, and it was the spot near which the first missionaries landed, with the venerable Marsden, who may be called the father of the New Zealand Mission. The Wesleyans have about the same number of missionaries employed as the Church of England; their labours being principally directed along the west coast and some portions of the interior. The French Jesuit mission, under Bishop Pompalier, has made Kororarika its head quarters, and its priests who are about a dozen in number, are chiefly engaged in propagating their doctrines amongst the inhabitants of the East Coast, especially about Hawker's Bay.
The individual who is pourtrayed in the plate, is a zealous and devoted adherent to Christianity: he is one of the most important of the Waikato chiefs; his native name is Ko-Nga-Waka, to which is added his baptized name of Karaka (Clark). He has made considerable progress in civilization, and always adopts the European costume; should the traveller have occasion to visit his house, he is provided with a bed, and food is set before him upon a table, with plates and knives and forks, according to the English custom.
By his side is his attendant boy Wakauenuku.
Text for plate 47: The New Zealanders illustrated / by George French Angas. -- London: Thomas M'Lean, 1847 (RB001054)