2-888-293 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Banquet given at Wellington to Native Chiefs of New Zealand, 1850. '...an Entertainment lately given...by Dr. Fitzgerald...on the occasion of having received from Earl Grey a portrait of her Majesty Queen Victoria...At the head of the apartment, over the chair, was the portrait of her Majesty...Underneath were two splendid native war spears, forming...a triangle, from the apex of which a magnificent "mere pounamia," or greenstone club, was suspended; these, being emblems of New Zealand chieftainship, were intended to represent the cession of sovereignty to her Majesty the Queen. On each side of the picture were two meres (greenstone clubs) intended to represent their support of her Majesty's Government...The Chiefs were all dressed in European costume, with the exception of two, who, instead of coats, wore very handsome "kaitaka" mats; they behaved with great decorum...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.