Revision as of 13:08, 1 September 2007

doc. 99 — 12 June - 17 July 1841

Letter from Antoine Garin to the pupils in Meximieux

[79] Formerly they [the Māori] had slaves among the natives; they fed them like the pigs and made them work, then they killed them to eat them. It happened often enough in their wars that there were 200 or 300 bodies on the battlefield. That was a good windfall for the winners. They would cut them up into pieces and hung the arms, legs and the rest on the pickets which form the square enclosure around their houses and which they call pā, so that the dogs would not come and eat these pieces. They would throw a large number of pieces in a hole dug in the earth and then cover all that with burning coals and would thus roast them in order to eat their fill.

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