The Maor THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES RKV. I). V. J.UCAS. D.I). 1 *-1k* (At THE MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 'THE MAOKIS OF NEW ZEALAND By REV. D. V.J.UCAS, D.D. Author of " Railway Sermons." " All About Canada.' "Australia and Homeward." " Canaan and Canada." " Federation of the British Empire." etc.. etc. TORONTO WILLIAM BRICGS 1910 Copyritht. Canada. 1910. by D. V. LUCAS. RU TO Sir &anitford firming. In remembrance of many years of the warmest and sincerest friendship this volume is respectfully dedicated. -\ jR I o INTRODUCTION IT is but right to say to the reader that I spent a year in Xew Zealand, visiting almost all parts of the two main islands, each nearly five hundred miles in length, and had abundant opportunity, therefore, of observing the native people of whom I write, preaching to hundreds of them, visiting them in their villages (pahs) and conversing with them. I had the good fortune also to meet and converse with Sir George Gray, who always, to very old age, took a deep interest in them and mastered their language, and am very largely indebted to Sir George for the information given the reader respecting their poetry and folk-lore. The whole of Sir George's works on the Maoris are in my possession, as also five volumes of Mr. John White's com- plete works on the same subject in both languages. Unfor- tunately Mr. White's fifth volume was burned in a con- flagration which consumed the Parliament Buildings and all their contents. My volumes, therefore, are I., II., III., IV. and VI. Fortunately other writers are able to con- tribute sufficient matter to almost cover the loss. I say " almost/' for Mr. White was the most prolific writer of all who have written upon this subject. I sincerely hope that some young native Xew Zealander INTRODUCTION. will take up the subject and give the world a work worthy of his clever ancestors. For they are ancestors of whom no man need be ashamed. I hope, too, that none of his people or any other will ever " take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." It was my good fortune also to meet several of these Maori M.P/s in the New Zealand Parliament in much less than a century after their fathers had been can- nibals. Surely the world is rapidly progressing. May our God lift up all the nations. He expects much from us who have been born into the world in the midst of clearer light. D. V. LUCAS. ST. CATHAEINES, April, 1910. CONTENTS MM Maoris of New Zealand .----.-15 Their Poets and Musicians - - - 24 The Story of Ponga 41 The Runaway 48 Councils Held 59 The Feast and the Wedding 68 The Legend of Toi and Tama 95 The Legend of Maui 96 The Story of Rata 110 The Legend of Whakatau 113 ILLUSTRATIONS PARK Rev. D. V. Lucas, D.D. ----- Frontispiece Paroto, an M.P. - . ... 16 A Great Chief and Warrior 20 Huia (Hoo-yeh) 22 Heroine of Rotorua --28 Great Chief (Ta-whee-o) 42 Pare Whabreronqonna -------44 Mare Pa-o-re - --------46 A Dwelling -- 56 Entrance to a Cemetery 84 Wood Carving ---------86 Wood Carving 118 A Dwelling- - - - 122 Moetara 126 THE MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Maoris* of New Zealand THIS book tells its readers of cannibals who, contrary to all our knowledge or imaginings of cannibals, were highly intelligent, conscientiously moral, artistic, eloquent, poetic and musical. Can we truthfully call such people savages? Yet this has been our describing designation of those who eat human flesh. The fact is, these aborigines of New Zealand seem to have been an exception to all aboriginal races with which the English have come in contact. Considering their numbers, which were small compared with continental races, they offered the strongest and best- ordered resistance to British forces which Britons ever met. However, no matter how well equipped with their native weapons, clubs and spears cannot hold out long against disciplined soldiers armed with guns and heavier ordnance. Do you think it cruel and wicked for civilized men to Pronounced Mow-rien. 2 15 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND visit these native people and destroy them by the hundred or the thousand because they are provided with superior weapons, when perhaps they would hardly have the courage to attempt such a task if no better equipped than they? In the native New Zealander you have a man who appre- ciates nothing, in a supposed enemy, except brute force. If he has to submit to it, when he has done his best, he does so with a good grace, as he has done in this instance, and respects it, because he discovers a power superior to his own. Their subjugation to civilized power has resulted in a complete cessation of those tribal wars which were con- tinuous, and in which thousands were slain many more thousands than those who fell in their resistance to their conquerors. Now they have peace among themselves as well as between them and their victors. The English gave them a written language, which they had not until they were conquered. When Sir George Gray, for a time Governor of the islands, and Mr. John White and others went among them, and by great kindness and unlimited sympathy made the natives feel that they were real friends, they found, among many other interesting things, that for a long time these people had schools which were open through four months of 16 r A ROTO A Meinticr of the New /.enlnnd Parliament. MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND each year, to which especially the sons of priests and chiefs had to go, there to commit to memory histories of their wars, their traditions, songs and folklore. Then, by means of the written language, they have given to the world the wonderful history and aboriginal con- ditions of these very remarkable people. As to their origin, I think there is some ground for believing that their ancestors came to New Zealand from the Sandwich Islands. From whence the natives of the Sandwich Islands came, it is hard to trace. The people of those islands deny that their fathers were ever cannibals. It is very interesting to discover that among the people of the entire Hawaiian group there was a general knowledge of those things believed and taught by the Hebrews. For instance, Captain Cook found during his short stay among them that the system of refuge cities for the pro- tection of the unintentional homicide was almost, if not fully, identical with that established by Moses and Joshua. Their ideas respecting the flood tallied well with that given us in the Pentateuch, and what makes the fact more striking is that the name among them of the Deliverer who saved a few of his race by his big canoe was Nui (Noah). 17 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND However, our book deals with the New Zealand people, and not with the Hawaiians, though there is reasonable evidence that the former came originally from the more northern group of islands. If it may be conceived that they are descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, while it will ever be a puzzle to discover how their fathers reached these islands, that sup- position will explain why there are abundant evidences of an earlier civilization of no low degree. It is thought by some that it is not very long since New Zealand and the continent of Asia were connected by dry land. The existence of the moa and other wingless and flightless birds would seem to confirm that idea. These immense birds, unable to either fly or swim, must have come upon dry land to this southernmost extremity of the Asiatic continent and had there made their habitat prior to the sinking down of the link of land between them and the larger portion of Asia. Ignoring the claim of those who argue that the New Zealander came from Hawaii, he may have found his way to his present home precisely as the birds and four-footed animals did. Though their ideas of the flood and of cities of refuge and other points of resemblance to Hebrew History may not be so definite and circumstantial as those of the Sand- 18 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND wich Islanders, yet they have well-established ideas, com- monly held among them, of the creation of the world and of the redemption of the world after man had become cor- rupt through transgression, as I will show from some of their poetic effusions. For there were poets among them who, as the reader will, I think, readily acknowledge, deserve to rank among classical poets of Greece and Rome. Though dark of skin, as a look at the pictures of a few of them, inserted for the purpose of giving the reader a fuller knowledge of them, will show, the picture reveals at once that they are very far removed from the African. Notice the hair, the forehead, the nose. While these facial features take him as far away from the negro as the east is from the west, the eye tells us that he is not a truly Asiatic or Mongolian. From whence, then, came he? Let that pass. I do not know. We will deal with him as we find him. While holding uniformly very fixed views respecting the creation of the worlds and the separation of cosmos from chaos, they had a very strong prejudice towards what they regarded as orthodoxy. They held that a god, "Tiki" (te-ke), had made man. They could not excuse any departure from that belief. 19 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND However, one priest did depart from the true faith as to this very essential doctrine. An old warrior, " Tewera," extremely orthodox, was very much offended. The more he thought of it the more wrathy he became because of the false teaching of the erratic priest. When war happened the priests were obliged to take their place in the ranks and fight like other folks. This erring priest was killed. Old Tewera got clay and stuffed it into his mouth and his ears, that no heresy could possibly escape. Then he made an oven of the proper size for a priest, and, after heating it, into it he thrust the body of the heretic and roasted him thoroughly, and kept right on, except at spells to let his dinner settle, until he ate the heretic entirely up and scraped his bones, remarking with much satisfaction that we would have no more of his unorthodox lies. you preachers, a little loose in your theology, I pray you keep away from New Zealand, for if old Tewera is not now alive, some of his descendants may be, and it may not go well with you. Heretics, so called, at least, have been roasted often, but the cannibal seemed to think that the work was not well done till the heretic was eaten. MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND It does not seem that their cannibalism went further, as a rule, than eating their enemies slain in battle. Sometimes a successful warrior would preserve the head of an enemy, especially if well tattooed, and keep it on a shelf in his house, and now and then take it down and talk to it after this fashion : " So you thought you would run away from me, did you ? Yes, but my spear was too quick for you; it caught up to you. Where is your brother? Killed and roasted to make food for my stomach. Where is your wife ? There she sits ; mine now. Where are your sons? There they are, carrying burdens for me; my slaves." You will notice that the head in each picture of a Maori, male or female, is ornamented by a feather with a white tip. These ornamental feathers are to the Maori what the eagle feathers are to the North American Indian. He could hardly think himself respectably dressed if not adorned with one or more of these tail-feathers of the huia (hoo-yeh). The bird is about the size of a pigeon. The male and female are exactly alike in shape, size and color, almost a blue black, the tail-feathers being tipped with white for about one inch back from the points. The only difference in the form of the sexes is, the male has a wedge- shaped beak, somewhat like that of the crow, though a 21 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND little shorter and broader at the base. The female has a long, bent beak, the size of a lady's crochet needle, quite three times as long as that of the male. Without the stronger; wedge-shaped beak, the male could not peck through the rough, hard bark of the tree where he hears a large white grub gnawing. The grub, disturbed by the pecking, draws away from it as far as he can, so that the bird with his thick beak cannot reach him when the bark is pecked through. He whistles for his mate, who runs her long, thin, curved beak into the hole until she reaches the grub, and, having pulled him out, a dividend is declared. For some years it was thought by the white people that the long-beaked bird was the male, because it seemed to be feeding the other. It is a standing joke in New Zealand that the bill of the female is always the longest. This queer provision of nature to provide for the wants of this bird gives it a notoriety and popularity which is appreciated by the natives, who regard the tail-feathers of the huia as of great value, especially as the bird is not very common. In fact, it is very difficult to obtain now. The other queer-looking, twisted-up ornament hanging around the neck of one of the young women is a token indicating that she is of royal blood, her father being either 22 Ilt'IA ( HOO-VKH MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND a very great chief or a king. She would not dare to wear it if she conld not establish her right to do so. All things belonging to a chief or great warrior or king are taboo to the common people. To handle his spear or war-club, or to put on a coat of his, or his mat over your shoulders, is grossly to insult his highness, and revenge must ensue. The insulted one is so enraged that he has not always time to hunt up the wrong-doer. Anyone near to him will do just as well. A slave or a brother or parent is attacked and slain. Some one near of kin, not knowing how the trouble originated, must seek revenge by retaliation. He perhaps slays two. Then the feud begins to make headway. Quarrels of this kind, and with no larger origin, used to run on for years, till hundreds or sometimes thousands were slain. The worst wars were those which occurred between the inhabitants of the two main islands. New Zealand consists principally of two islands, each about five hundred miles long, separated by about twenty miles of water called Cook's Straits. The Maoris of the lower or southernmost island were the more aggressive of the two, and wars of the severest kind were fought in the northern island, those from the south having crossed the straits and attacked the 23 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND northern tribes for some trivial reason, or often for no reason at all, save that the fighting spirit was in them and could not be gratified without the shedding of blood. They were fierce fighters, and their conflicts were no child's play. THEIR POETS AND MUSICIANS. That they should have had warriors, and sometimes very eloquent warriors, does not surprise us, for all who are at all familiar with the conditions of aboriginal peoples are aware of the existence of such among them, even where there was no written language, or no means of intellectual education : but that they should have had poets worthy of being classed with some of the classical poets of ancient times, and while they were yet cannibals, is almost beyond our belief, and would be wholly so if our faith were not supported by the most reliable testimony. The reading world will always be indebted to Sir George Gray, Mr. John White, and a few others not so well known, for going among them, mastering their tongue and making themselves thoroughly familiar with their folklore and their ancient customs. Their poets, in their natural imagery, allowed their thoughts to move so rapidly that they could not attend very largely to detail. The natural simile was seized upon 24 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND or alluded to at one or two striking points only, and these of the most lively phases. The setting sun, the red even- ing sky, the twinkling of a star, the rising moon or breaking dawn, the flash of the lightning or the rolling thunder, the hooting of an owl or the roaring of the sea almost all phenomena of nature were woven into their songs. Their poetry may be classified as lyrical, historical and ceremonial. Their lyrical poetry contains martial, venge- ful, taunting, humorous and exciting songs. Their his- toric songs embraced, for the greater part, the warlike deeds of their ancestors. These they also recited in traditions and legends. The ceremonial poetry was chanted for the purpose of securing the aid of or dispelling spiritual influences, sometimes containing a command or threat. The following song seems to have been intended to allure an enemy into battle, by some small degree of flattery, that he might be slain and eaten. Oh! spirit of the light Of day, a halo on Thy head Is seen. Lift up thy head, Lift It up on high, Lift It o'er the hills, See there thy host Upon the ocean shore. 25 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Go there my foe, In Light of day, and Pass the god of war. Tis there the battle Rages. There sleeps not, The enemy of peace. Nay, 'tis war in battle Fierce, as when a Northern cloud let Loose and drifting on In blackness bursting, Drowns the shrieks of Lips that utter grief. But you say, the Feathers lift you, And you fly from Me, and death, with Power supreme of life. But no, my glow of life Is still a power And can with ease Convey me to the north. There shall thy cry Be heard, thy shrieking call Re-echo to the heavens, And to the highest peak My voice in startled Accents will call in vain. "Go, climb the mountains, Assisted by the roots of Trees, where we wage 26 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Our war In presence Of thy gods. There thou shalt be, As shark with broken fin. " There thou wilt start, And be as food Offered to the gods On sacred pile. What are the mountains Which I yonder see, The Whata and Rangotat " There let us wage Our war. The comet Gives the sign. My slashing weapon Beaten on the skull Shall give thy head To me for food. Ah! Sweet food." A shorter poem tells of the misery occasioned by famine, resulting from drought, although these poor people attributed all such calamities to the anger of the gods. Welcome, Rup6, yet Wait awhile with me, And I will tell Thee what the ancients Say of smiles or frowns The seasons give. 27 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Two years of food deficient, Then two years of want, And bitterest scarcity, And then a harvest Crop of plenty comes. But thou, oh, Rupe", Hast the power to Choose or cast aside The choicest that The earth can give. When sleep enwraps Thy frame, the medium Of thy spirit comes And shows thee what The staff of life would say, Thy omen staff, if All alone, tells what Heaven's fiat is of Famine, and of Universal death to man. The following poem is from the heart of one in dire distress because his sons have fallen in battle, and whose wife and daughters had fallen, too, as victims of famine and pestilence, during his absence in war with a distant tribe. No part of the great drama of Job is more touching or more forcibly put. The tide of life glides Swiftly past and mingles All in one great eddying foam. Oh! heaven now sleeping, Rouse thee. Rise to power. 28 HKROINK 01- ROTORl'A MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND And Oh! thou earth Awake- Exert thy might for me And open wide the door of My last home, where calm and Quiet rest awaits me in the sky. The sun declines and hides In dusky eve. So will I Leap forth to the sacred isle. Oh! stay, thou voice of my Own sacred bird. My heavenly Bird now far up in the sky, Whose voice with double Sound now weeps. Smite me and thrust me Into blackest night and Endless gloom, where I May stay upon the border land And rest submissive To my fate. There is an interesting legend which embraces the story of Hine-moa, the daughter of Hine-mam, who, falling deeply in love with a young chief, Tutane-kia, who dwelt on an island in Lake Roto-rua, and quite captivated with his music and his playing upon the horn, swam in the night from her home to his island, where they became man and wife and the ancestors of all those who dwell along the shores of Lake Roto-rua. The following ancient poem refers to that event : 29 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Oh, gentle air, blow from the north. Blow softly, gently on me now. And I will gaze and watch to see The loved one coming from afar. Oh! turn and look this way, And make me glad for thee, Then here I still may stay And wait for thy return. I watch the cloud that hovers O'er the home of my beloved, While fond regrets must moan Thine absence in the north. My heart felt certain thou Wouldst be all mine for ever, And now that thou art here, The days are always bright. I spent some time around the shores of this very popular lake, particularly celebrated among the Maoris by the his- toric event which I have just given, as these two people were regarded as belonging to Maori nobility. We took a small steamer and crossed to the other side, towing at her stern a skiff, perhaps twenty or twenty-five feet long. We landed at the mouth of a small river or creek. One man paddled the skiff up stream something over a mile. The rest of us walked the distance along a path through the wood. At the distance named above we came to a rapid river rolling directly up out of the earth. 30 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND It is probably fifty or sixty feet across, quite circular in form. One can walk all the way around it on perfectly dry ground. The current is so rapid that no one standing on its edge could throw an oar, no matter how strongly, so as to impel it down into the water its whole length. Nor can anyone dive entirely below the surface, no matter how expert at diving; the current forces him back so quickly that he cannot possibly go entirely under. Where this river enters the earth, or what may be the length of its underground course, no one can tell. It is supposed to be supplied from the bottom of one of the lakes some miles away. Sometime in October of each year many thousands of fish, absolutely blind, with no semblance of an eye, come up with the stream and are carried down the river into Lake Roto-rua. The natives, however, catch very many of them with nets, and dry them in the sun for winter food. The river rolling up from depths unknown is of sufficient volume to make a stream deep enough to carry five or six of us men down in the large skiff to the lake. New Zealand has a large number of natural objects to make it a very interesting country for tourists. There seems to have been among these people a common and natural love for poetry and song. 31 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Song seems to have entered into all phases of ordinary life, domestic or social, in times of peaceful cultivation of the soil, or in times of war preparation or of belligerent action. The following song was commonly sung during the cul- tivation of the land and the planting of seed, to ensure protection to the growth of the crop from the ravages of insects or inclemency of the weather : My spirit trembles in this world, While down from Rehia Hill Lightnings flash and winds descend, I offer sacrifices demanded. My enemies are these, The earthquake and caterpillar, And all devouring insects, Coming from Wero-ti-a. Oh! may the yams and kumera And taro now fall out, The girdle which encircles The breast of Wahi-roa. May the god of man Deprive all enemies of power, For I now am at my work, And my crops am planting. Moisten my plantations And cause my crops to grow, While I chant my sacred song To Him, the one supreme. 33 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND In the next song, with its refrain, there is an evident idea of a knowledge of the origin of preparation necessary for making the earth ready for the abode of man. Separate heaven and earth, That they may be parted. Sing the resounding song, Sing the resounding song, Separate the damp part, Sing the resounding song, From the part that's dry, Sing the resounding song, That parting may take place, Sing the resounding song. Separate the darkness, Sing the resounding song, From the sun and brightness Sing the resounding song, Separate Tu and Kongo, Sing the resounding song. Where it was desired to set certain neighbors or others at variance, for the purpose of revenge or war, incantations were used, such as I give below, this one being attributed to an old female goddess of the first generation of the lower world. Like many of their poetic creations, the original author is entirely unknown. Rough be their skin, So altered by dread, As brambles and nettles 33 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND Repugnant to feel, So change for each other Their love into hate. With dire enchantments Oh! sever them, gods, And fill with disgust To each other their days. Engulf them in floods, In ocean and seas, With dire enchantments, Oh! sever them, gods. Let love and regret For each other be hate. Nor affection nor love For the past live again. There seems to have been in the minds of some of their poets, at least, an idea of a Deliverer for man from the darkness of this world, leading the soul up into the realms of greater light and happiness. Stay, omens, stay, the One Supreme has come. And signs now tell Of his disciples near. They come, and peering Forth, they gaze into Vast space of sparkling Beauty, and of good. 34 MAOEIS OP NEW ZEALAND I, the scholar, hold the Sacred stone of power, Soul of power, soul Of earth and heaven. Accept delight and Ecstasy unlimited, Hold all beauty, but Let it spread around. The soul now climbs And high ascends to The soul of the Supreme And his disciples. Oh, heaven! the soul Is far above, in All creation's space, In light supreme And in the blaze of day. A father's lament for the loss of his children, Their parental affections were very strong. They were also solicitous for the morals of their children. I bow my head as Droops the tree of fern, Weeping for my children. My child, so often called, My children. Oh! my children. Gone. Yes, gone as With the mighty flood. I lonely sit, 'midst Noise and crowd. 35 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND My life ebbs fast, My house is swept, Clean swept for ever. The shining sun has nought To gladden now. But I will bow me In my house and Ponder in despair. My heart will then Forget the deeds of man. Oh! was it theft that Makes the moon to wane? Or was it theft that Makes the avalanche? Or was it they who Caused my children's death? The old vocal Maori music differs very widely from our music, although now and then one might hear a near approach to some of our more simple chants. With them every song or piece of poetry must have its own proper tune and must not be sung or recited to any other but its own. They have other songs which were sung only by the women, whose voices were very remarkably mellow and soft, with always a pleasing effect. The time is slow, and the cadence mournful, but conducted with a taste we could not have expected from such a people. The children seem to be initiated at a very early age into 36 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND keeping in their songs the strictest time. They sing with much spirit and melody. They enjoy their songs more if accompanied by the flute. Their tongue is not harsh, and whatsoever qualities are requisite to make a language musical are not lacking in them. Their delicacy of ear in the distinctions of tone and in their diligent efforts to improve their musical knowledge and musical permanence reveal a very creditable musical faculty. 37 THE STORY OF PONGA THE STORY OF PONGA LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT AND MATCH MADE LONGFELLOW never discovered in the history of the courtship of Hiawatha anything more thrilling or sub- lime than will be found by the reader in this story of Ponga (pong-eh) and Puhi-huia (poo-e-hoo-yeh) . These young people were the offspring of genuine can- nibal stock, and their love drama was enacted in those good old cannibal days which some of the older, still remaining, mourn as gone forever. Ponga had come from Awhitu (ah-wee-too) to visit for a fortnight the young people of the larger tribe at Mount Eden, one of the natural features of the now beautiful city of Auckland, New Zealand. The young bloods of higher rank, that is, the sons of older chiefs, had boasted that they would capture the heart of Puhi-huia. Ponga was a modest boy of few words. In the haka- haka and kami-kami games, the performance and gestures and grimaces of each were so perfect and enchanting that these two fell violently in love with each other. Puhi-huia being of the very highest rank, the noblest Roman of them all, could not, according to their strict rules of etiquette, 41 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND come near or in any degree associate with Ponga, a man of low degree, because the son of a chief third or fourth removed from the oldest born of the old chieftain's family. He could not sleep, he went and sat in the moonlight on a rock near the dwelling. Hearing a footstep, he asked, ''Who is this?" The answer was, "It is I, your slave." Ponga said, " How strange that I am not able to sleep in that house!" His attendant replied, "You have fatigued yourself in the haka games and in making grimaces, but as the proverb says, ' He who fishes for the sprat may sleep, but he who fishes for the whale must keep awake.' '' Ponga said, " Yes, but it is also strange that I have lost all thought of Awhitu matters." Said the attendant, " To what do you allude ?" Ponga said, " Having regard to deeds of past times, I feel that I must be cautious in my conduct. The evils which in former days came on the people of this tribe have never been avenged." The slave answered, " Yes, but we came here as guests, and all are quite young. What can rats do ?" Ponga said, " It is so, but the old proverb says, ' Though the mokoroa grub be a little thing it can cause the big Kauri tree to fall.' " The slave replied, "We came here for amusement and we presume upon the fact that peace is made between the tribes." " Yes/' said Ponga, " provided that all our party 42 MAORI KING TAWHIA (T.\-\VHKK-A MAOKIS OF NEW ZEALAND keep their hands from touching that which is not theirs ; if such were to take place evil would come on us all." The attendant said, " You chiefs only dare to touch the sacred things of the pah (village). Such as I am would not commit such an act." Ponga said, " Do you mean, to touch and take, that is, to steal property?" The slave answered, "Not quite so; property is property, but there is also such a thing as sacredness in property that has life." Ponga asked, " Do you allude to Puhi-huia ?" He answered, " Can the fact be hidden that the eyes of you, of noble birth, glistened and flashed when looking at that young woman when she made grimaces in the games in which she took part?" Ponga said, " I am quite bewildered. Let us return to our homes, lest evil befall us." After sitting in silence a long time, the slave said, " Ah, friend, I have a thought. Do you agree to what I propose, it will be good ; if you do not, you have a right to reject. Let us return to the house; if you sleep, well and good ; if you do not sleep, it will be good, but be brave. Let your spirit live in you ; food is food, eat it. Talk and laugh, and let the sor- row that is in you be smothered by your determined will ; let it be kept hidden from the knowledge of others. On the evening of the coming day, feign to be thirsty and call for 43 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND me; call loudly, and order me to go and fetch you water. I shall not hear you, and it will seem as if I were not heeding you. The mother of Puhi-huia will perhaps ask her daughter to go and fetch you water, which would not he degrading to her, seeing you are suffering for it, and because you are a chief and a guest. If the daughter obeys, you can arise and follow her to the spring; but be sure and let everyone awake hear you say, ' I wonder where that deaf and stupid slave is. If I can find him I will crack his skull.' " All was carried out to the very letter the following night. The mother said, " daughter, are you so deaf that you cannot hear one of our guests calling for water? Can you not feel some sympathy for him and go fetch him water?" Ponga left the house as soon as she had gone, vowing vengeance on his disobedient slave, ending with a proverb that the day may be long but the night must come at last. Puhi-huia sang, to strengthen her heart, an old song, common in her tribe, having come down from her ancestors through many generations : Shoot up, oh! rays, Of coming days, And moonbeams, too, I wait for you With song resounding. 44 A GREAT CHIEF AND WARRIOR PARK WHABRERONQONN \ Ornament u|x>n her neck is a six" of nobility Slie would not