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 <!art- to 
 wear it if -.he ooul<l not etaJ)li-ih her rij-ht to <lo so.
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 May you shine forth 
 
 To light the path, 
 Which now I take 
 
 With song resounding. 
 
 That sure I may, 
 
 With path all clear, 
 Isow travel on 
 
 With song resounding. 
 
 Along the road, 
 
 Which echoes still, 
 And still vibrates 
 
 With song resounding. 
 
 Ponga, guided by her song and light of her torch, over- 
 took her at the spring. She was in the act of lifting the 
 filled calabash (gourd) from the water, when she discerned 
 Ponga near her. She asked, " What do you want ?" He 
 replied, " I want a drink." She said, " I came for water 
 for you. Then why did you not stay in the pah (village), 
 and I would have taken it to you." He answered, "My 
 word in regard to thirst is true, but my thirst is that of 
 the heart, and it is from within that I feel a longing for 
 you." She heard his words and thought, "Why, he loves 
 me !" They sat down and talked. Ponga said, " My home 
 at Awhitu is famed for its fish and shellfish ; here you have 
 but fern root." She said, " We have fish in our pah from 
 the east coast and the west coast the coast of which the 
 
 45
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 proverb says, the coast where a female may paddle a canoe." 
 He replied, " You may have much fish and food in your pah, 
 but what food does the heart obtain?" 
 
 She said, " Quite so ; maybe at your home young chiefs 
 delight themselves in sports." He replied, " That is true ; 
 then return with me, that you may behold and join in our 
 sports." She said, " The matter rests with you ; on the 
 night preceding the day of your departure, command your 
 servants to go to One-hunga (o-ne-hung-eh) , our seaport, 
 and cut all the lashings of our canoes, and keep your canoe 
 well out and afloat, so that when I leave with you our people 
 will have no canoe with which to pursue us. Now go in 
 front of me and arrive first at the pah; go quickly." He 
 entered the house and asked, " Has any water been brought 
 forme?" He was told, " No." He said, " I have not been 
 able to find that stupid slave ; I will yet crack his skull." 
 
 He was repeating proverbs galore and nursing his wrath 
 to keep it warm when Puhi-huia entered at the other end of 
 the house. Her mother said, " How long you have been !" 
 She answered, " Is the road so short, or does the sun shine, 
 that you should wonder at the time I have taken?" The 
 mother said, "Take the water in your calabash to Ponga, 
 who has felt the pang of thirst so long in awaiting your 
 return." 
 
 46
 
 MARK PA-O-RK 
 
 A Maori Educated in Knglish
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 She took it, but as he was a chief he could not drink like 
 a common person, directly from the calabash, but formed 
 a cup by placing his two open hands together into which 
 she poured the water, which he drank. The night before 
 their intended departure he commanded his servant to go 
 with his associates to One-hunga and to cook food and make 
 all necessary preparations, but especially to cut the lashings 
 which held the top sides of the Mount Eden canoes. All 
 was done as he directed. 
 
 The next morning the guests put on their belts and 
 rugs ready for departure. The head chief of Mount Eden 
 took his mere-ponamu (greenstone heirloom weapon) and 
 gave it to the young chief of supreme rank of Awhitu, 
 who in return gave his also to the great chief of Mount 
 Eden. This was according to ancient custom. This 
 exchange of weapons was a ratification of any terms of 
 peace which might have been agreed upon by the tribes. 
 
 47
 
 THE RUNAWAY. 
 
 WHEN the young people set out, Puhi-huia accompanied 
 them for some distance, when her father called out, " girl, 
 come back. It is only the insane who go so far. You will 
 be called a person of low birth." If she heard her father's 
 voice she certainly did not heed. Her female friends 
 immediately turned back on hearing the words of their old 
 chief, her father. Puhi-huia, driven by the power of her 
 love, and the great longing of her heart, flew towards him 
 with whom were all her affections. She came up at length 
 to the Awhitu people and went at once to the side of Ponga. 
 She said, " Let us proceed quickly ; life is in the power of 
 our muscle, and by this we shall gain the canoe." They 
 all went swiftly on, like the feather of a bird driven by the 
 wind, like the weka escaped from a trap, like the pinga 
 along the coast driven by the fierceness of the blast. The 
 Mount Eden people saw, from their pah, Puhi-huia join 
 the departing guests. Each warrior seized his weapon and 
 joined in the hot pursuit. Not in command of any leader, 
 they jostled each other in a combined mob, many tumbling 
 to the ground in their vengeful haste. Seeing their princess 
 had embarked with their late guests, they rushed to their 
 canoes to drag them to the water. 
 
 48
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 As was the custom, a line of men and women on either 
 side laid firmly hold of the craft to launch it for pursuit. 
 One gave the command, " Move it, move it," while all 
 responded, " Slide on, slide on." As all the lashings of the 
 top boards had been cut, they at once tore away and left the 
 body of the canoe standing unmoved. Some of the people 
 fell head over heels, and some went sprawling ; others were 
 held down by the weight of the boards, with their limbs 
 badly bruised. These rose to rub their arms and legs, and 
 seeing the sorry plight they were in, they shook their fists 
 and made grimaces at their departing guests, repeating 
 proverbs by the dozen. 
 
 Go, go, go, 
 
 The sun may rise, 
 
 And the sun may set, 
 But we will see you later. 
 
 The guests paddled towards their home full of glee, 
 proud of the young woman of high rank who had come 
 with them. Ponga's slave was happy. It so happened 
 that as Puhi-huia was one of the last to enter the canoe she 
 sat near the young chief of highest rank who had received 
 the greenstone weapon from her father. He took it from 
 his bundle and showed it to her and said, " young woman, 
 there is the weapon of your father given to me: accept it 
 
 49
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 as your gift to our lords of Awhitu." She said, "Am I 
 a man that I should hold a thing so sacred ? It is for you 
 in the male line of supreme chiefs to hold such things. I 
 will not take it, lest in days of evil it may be said that the 
 evil was caused by the hand of a woman holding a thing 
 so sacred." He answered, "Accept it, and let it be your 
 gift to our head chief at Awhitu. Will it be right for you 
 to go into his presence without a gift in your hand ?" She 
 replied, " Should there be an exchange twice repeated ? 
 No, all I shall take with me will be that which I already 
 possess." He said, " Who received the scented oil taken by 
 cur young people to your pah?" She answered, "It was 
 in the open courtyard and for all the people. I did not 
 receive any of it." He said, " I asked my question as I 
 thought your, remark respecting a double exchange alluded 
 to the scented oil." She replied, " You are impertinently 
 inquisitive; you can see, and have seen, that I came here 
 with Ponga, yet you ask questions." She arose and went 
 and sat next to Ponga. The timekeeper for the rowers 
 sang songs of his own composition : 
 
 Pull on, oh, friends, pull on,. 
 
 Put down your paddles deep, 
 How leaps my fluttering heart, 
 
 As flashes of such brightness, 
 Gleam from out thine eyes. 
 O, Puhi-hula. 
 
 50
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Though thy fame had spread 
 From Eden's mount to distant lands, 
 
 Yet thou dost deign to live 
 With us, in humble home, 
 O, Puhi-hula. 
 
 They paddled on ; when halfway across the outer harbor 
 the young chief once more said, " young woman, accept 
 this your weapon ; it is the weapon of your ancestors, it is 
 the famed weapon called ' Kaho-tea/ ' ; She said, " Hold 
 your own weapon; you may ponder your thought and I 
 will ponder mine." He replied, "Then let us cease our 
 contentions in respect to the weapon of your ancestors. 
 Peace was made in days of old, and there is food in the fish 
 of the sea we are now crossing. You are not ignorant of 
 the fact that death has come to many because of these fish. 
 I did wish to put this heirloom into your hands that I 
 might have the honor of protecting you." She answered, 
 " You of us two are the more ignorant. You have seen 
 that I was in the protection of Ponga. He is the one known 
 to my heart and whom my love embraces. He will be my 
 protector." He said, " Then do you say that Ponga is to 
 be your lord?" She answered, " If so, what then? It is 
 as you say." He said, " It is well ; let it be as you say." 
 
 She answered, " Who are you ? And what is he that I 
 should not take him as my lord? And what can you do? 
 
 51
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Are you so sacred that you cannot work in the cultivations ? 
 Of such as Ponga it is said, ' The brave in war never lose 
 their fame or power/ I and my heart have found one for 
 ourselves. If evil comes, only death shall part me from 
 Ponga." 
 
 The canoe neared the shore. Those on the beach waved 
 their garments and said, " Come, oh, come, and welcome, to 
 our home from a distant land, all our returning children." 
 The young chieftain of highest rank stood up and called to 
 those who had assembled. " Whom do I see sitting on the 
 shore ?" They answered, " We, your ancestors and parents, 
 are all here." He said, " Stay where you are and hearken 
 to my words. I, your child, have had a narrow escape from 
 death. All the young people of our party conducted them- 
 selves at Mount Eden in a quiet and peaceable manner, 
 but Ponga acted to me like a murderer. Here is that young 
 woman, sacred and of most supreme rank, daughter of the 
 lord of Mount Eden, brought here by Ponga. He did not 
 tell me at the time that he was about to commit this theft, 
 or I should have made him to desist. When we had bidden 
 farewell to our Mount Eden friends, and had got near to 
 One-hunga, Ponga, unknown to us, was in the act of taking 
 this young woman from her home. 
 
 "All the warriors rose and with their weapons fol- 
 
 52
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 lowed us. I was bewildered by the suddenness of the 
 fright when I saw that we were being pursued by an 
 enemy. They at once rushed to their canoes to drag 
 them to the sea to follow us, but your two tribes have 
 been so long at peace the lashings of the top sides of 
 their canoes had become rotten, so that the top sides came 
 away and let the people fall one over the other on the 
 ground, and thus the rotten lashings saved my life. I am 
 angry with myself for fleeing from them and not sending 
 this young woman back to her home. Daylight is light in 
 these days, but now darkness is deadly gloom, and by to- 
 morrow your enemy will be here. If you are brave, well 
 and good; if not, you will be lost, like the extinction of 
 the Moa, and Ponga will be your murderer." 
 
 As soon as he ceased the head chief arose. All others 
 sat in silent dread. The old chief said, "Welcome, wel- 
 come, take the girl back to her parents. You are right: 
 because of long years of peace the lashings of the canoes 
 had become rotten and thereby your life has not been taken. 
 I will not allow the girl to break the bonds of peace." 
 
 The canoe was yet a little way from the shore. Puhi- 
 huia arose and waved her hands for some time towards the 
 crowd on the shore. She stretched her arms at full length 
 and said, " people, look at me." All the people uttered a 
 
 53
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 low moan of admiration at her noble figure and attitude. 
 She was a fine-looking woman, tall, with dark curling hair, 
 and supple as a sapling of the forest. To those on the 
 shore she said, " Your anger against me is not just. You 
 are right in blaming me, as I may be the cause of evil which 
 may fall on you; but you are not just when you falsely 
 accuse Ponga. I came here of my own accord, but I blame 
 you for this. Why did you not see how beautiful your child 
 Ponga was and keep him at this your home? If you had 
 allowed only his companions to come I should still be at my 
 home. You allowed the agitator of my heart to come near 
 me, and I could not restrain my feelings, but rushed madly 
 into love because he is so good-looking. I am not to blame; 
 you laid your plot to murder me." 
 
 She ceased, and with one bound went into the water and 
 swam towards the shore. Those in the canoe sat like so 
 many beings bereft of their senses, and not one of them 
 uttered a word. She swam till she could feel the ground 
 beneath her feet, and then stood in the water, which came 
 to her knees. Again she spoke : " I, Puhi-huia, stand in 
 your presence. I alone sought for and have found that 
 which shall be mine. I am not and will not be amenable to 
 the order of anyone who says, 'Do this/ or 'Do that/ 
 and if you persist in saying that I must return to Mount 
 
 54
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Eden, by the time the midnight comes to this day I and 
 Ponga will sleep in the foam that the sea surges make on 
 the bar of this harbor. I shall not come on the land ; the 
 land is yours, the ocean is my home." 
 
 Not a voice was heard from the shore, save the 
 deep and loud wail of the sorrowing women. The 
 young chieftain spoke again to those on the shore : " The 
 crop takes one ear before it is ripe, but the thoughts of 
 man are planted and the crop is here at once. Why, old 
 men, do you sit in inaction? The Mount Eden warriors? 
 will follow. Does the year ever remain calm through all 
 its days ? No, there is summer and then winter. The sun 
 shines and then thunder is heard. Are you ignorant of the 
 lightning of heaven ?" Ponga waded through the water to 
 his beloved and stood beside her. 
 
 Again the old chief of Awhitu arose. He did not utter 
 a word while passing from one end of the beach to the 
 other. Then he turned quickly and ran along, kicking 
 the sand into the air so that it fell in dust behind him. 
 Then he exclaimed, " Oh, woe ! Oh, woe is me, my 
 offspring, the world is all a blaze of fire! Come, my 
 child, daughter of high birth. Go where you will, 
 death is there. Live where you like, death is there. 
 Plant your crops, death is there. From the days of 
 
 55
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Maui (mow-e) death has been everywhere. Do you 
 think that you will not die? my child, all is death in 
 this world. Come to our home. young woman, welcome 
 to these of your ancestors. Evil or death has not its origin 
 with you. Death and evil are of old. my child, your 
 ancestors have never slept on a mat on the foam of the sea. 
 How brave and daring you are ! Come, child of noblest 
 birth, come, and you and I will live or die together." 
 
 This last word meant that he would sooner die defending 
 her than allow her to be taken back against her will. As 
 the old man ascended to the pah, the very old men and 
 women there came out and waved their garments and called 
 the welcome as of old. The old man led Puhi-huia to his 
 house, followed by Ponga. Food was cooked by his attend- 
 ants and carried and laid before the young people returning 
 from Mount Eden. 
 
 It was borne from the ovens by the young people, who 
 formed in line, three abreast, carrying the food in baskets 
 and singing all in chorus : 
 
 It is thee and Ponga, 
 
 Puhi-huia and Ponga, 
 Tender, tender, 
 
 Rich and ripe and mellow, 
 Red and rare and yellow, 
 
 Let the feast be eaten, 
 Come to our pah and welcome. 
 
 56

 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 When the food had been placed in a heap, the old chief 
 took a green bough and, touching it, said, " This food, this 
 food, this food is for all the tribes in every place." He 
 sat down, and Puhi-huia arose and, taking a fern stalk, 
 broke it in short pieces and stuck them at intervals along 
 the pile. Then she went to the young chief whose life had 
 been so wonderfully preserved by the rotten thongs of the 
 Mount Eden canoes, and taking the mere-ponamu (me-re 
 ponam-u) in her right hand she waved it above her head 
 and said over the first division of the food, " This food, this 
 food, is for the Awhitu people, for each and every sub-tribe 
 within all their boundaries/' The old chieftain again 
 arose and, taking his green branch, struck the portion that 
 was nearest him, and said, "This food, this food, is for 
 Puhi-huia;" and another, saying, "This food, this food, 
 is for all those of Awhitu ;" and yet another, saying, " This 
 food is for all of Wai-ka-to and for all them who live within 
 its boundaries ;" and the last portion, " This food is for 
 all in any place through all the world." 
 
 Puhi-huia arose and said, " Where is the man who was 
 deaf to the call of his lord, calling for water? Stand up 
 and let me look at you. Now, are you the man who brought 
 not the water for your master ?" He answered, " Yes." 
 She asked, " What is the most requisite accompaniment of 
 
 57
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 food?" He said, " Water." She replied, " It is by your 
 conduct I am here; you were deaf to the commands of 
 your lord, and I had to fetch water for him, and so I 
 learned his love for me. It is for you to distribute the food 
 allotted to me and in my name." The attendant went near 
 to the food and said, " This food is for Ponga and for the 
 many young chiefs who paddled to visit Mount Eden." 
 A chorus of voices cried out : 
 
 Right, right you are, 
 
 You have acted nobly, 
 Give the food for Ponga 
 
 To his worthy friends, 
 Who helped to "bring 
 
 The noble born to our home. 
 
 58
 
 COUNCILS HELD. 
 
 THE old chief who had led Puhi-huia up from the water 
 said, " What is to be our policy ? Let us meet in the visi- 
 tors' house and hold a council/' One of the young chiefs 
 said in the council, " Was it I who brought the noble-born 
 from her home? Why should I stand in dread of the 
 weapons of Mount Eden ?" Another said, " She has come 
 of her own accord: let her harvest her crop, or, in other 
 words, lead us to battle." The young chief who had 
 received the heirloom from the great lord of Mount Eden 
 said, " Here is Kaho-tea, the weapon of the father of the 
 girl, given me to bind more firmly the terms of peace 
 between our tribes. Ponga did not heed this token. He 
 stole the daughter from her parents and brought her here. 
 If the evil had originated with me I should take a part in 
 our defence, but as it has come from the act of one of low 
 degree, why should I be killed for naught?" 
 
 Puhi-huia, having arisen, said, " My ancestors and fathers, 
 the evil of which you speak did not originate with Ponga. 
 You were yourselves the first cause of all this action. You 
 allowed Ponga to visit the home of my parents. Why did 
 you not keep him here with you ? If only your other young 
 
 59
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 chiefs had come I should have still been at Mount Eden. To 
 any of them I should have said, ' I will not go with you.' 
 Why should I not charge you with being the cause of the 
 evil for which you blame Ponga ? He is not the originator 
 of my action, nor did he utter one word of advice or order. 
 I alone had the thought and acted upon it, and I am here ; 
 and if the war party which you fear should come I will 
 grimace at them, and though I am but one and Ponga is 
 but one, what then? Do you think I will return to my 
 home? No. This is my adhering to Ponga even to the 
 world of spirits." The head chief arose and said, " It is 
 right, tribe, you have spoken. If I and my daughter are 
 killed, who can order otherwise?" 
 
 No one dared say more at the conference after this great 
 chief had spoken. Some were afterwards heard to say, 
 "The words of our great chief are just. If the young 
 woman loves Ponga, why should we not support her in her 
 determination? If war follows, let us all be brave." 
 
 It was now grey dawn. Each warrior, bound round with 
 his war belt, brought out his weapon. All knew the 
 meaning of their chief " If I and my daughter are killed, 
 who can order otherwise ?" He meant by these words that 
 he would not allow Puhi-huia to be retaken without resist- 
 ance even with death. The sun had scarcely gained the 
 
 60
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 meridian when a large canoe full of warriors came close to 
 the shore. 
 
 Puhi-huia went near to them and said, " Cease to paddle ; 
 stay where you are. You have come as the advance-guard. 
 Who is supporting you?" They said, "All our tribe is 
 behind us." "And what is the object of your coming?" 
 They replied, "That you return to your home." Puhi- 
 huia said, " Return, go back and tell them that if they come 
 they can only see me as you see me. I shall not return to 
 my home by force alive. Do not send the people to tho 
 world of spirits by war; let mine be the only death. My 
 husband Ponga will not sit in silence; he also will speak. 
 I have found for myself that which I like, and shall hold 
 it even to the dark world. I am not yet the wife of Ponga, 
 but if my parents and my people will come to this pah 
 when next the moon is full, Ponga will prepare them a 
 feast. If they come guided by the god of war they shall 
 not see me alive ; I will meet them in the world of spirits." 
 
 She ascended to the pah, and they turned their canoe and 
 paddled for One-hunga. When Puhi-huia had said to the 
 advance-guard that she would die with Ponga rather than 
 be forced to yield to their demands, all the women on the 
 shore said, " Even so, such is the constancy of the noble- 
 born, she will not act in a trifling manner. She will even 
 
 61
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 go to the world of spirits rather than leave him she loves; 
 such hearts are never fickle; even so does the noble-born 
 act." 
 
 The message sent by Puhi-huia was delivered to the 
 tribe. A council was called. All the young chiefs were 
 present. One young chief gave a loud cough to attract 
 attention. He rose and said, " My parents and ancestors 
 have for many years nurtured that to which my heart was 
 inclined, but when my valued property was full-grown and 
 the bloom of summer beautified it, my junior in rank came 
 and took it away. Why should I not feel anger? You 
 old people have felt the joys of life and its power. Allow 
 us of younger years to feel the same ; allow us, then, to go 
 and bring back by force our most valued one." 
 
 Another young chief said, " I have noticed that when the 
 Kaka parrots take their flight as winter comes, there always 
 is at least one red Kaka which takes its flight with the 
 second flock. Is it wrong for the red Kaka to fly with that 
 flock? You propose to compel Puhi-huia to return to her 
 home. If she has determined to act she will do as she says, 
 and if you go to fetch her she will not return while she is in 
 life." 
 
 A female attendant of the absent girl said, " I have 
 been an attendant on Puhi-huia through all her life; her 
 
 62
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 attendants have joked with her and told her she could have 
 any of the young chiefs of our coast. Some of these have 
 tried to win her, but she would not listen to them. She 
 is a most determined young woman, and nothing will turn 
 her from her purpose." 
 
 The meeting continued all night. Most of the speakers 
 advised that she be allowed to choose for herself. Some, 
 however, argued strongly in favor of the use of force to 
 bring her back. As the day was dawning, the mother of 
 Puhi-huia said, "The mind which swayed and the acts 
 performed by her progenitors will be followed by Puhi-huia. 
 I am a descendant of Hotu-nui. I was not one to whom 
 my tribe said, ' daughter, such a one must be your hus- 
 band.' My lord with whom I live was of my own seeking 
 and choice. I defied all my brothers. The one I loved 
 was at Rara-tonga. His parents and chiefs came to our 
 fishing-grounds, bringing him with them. He had just 
 been tattooed. When I saw him my heart was bewildered 
 by him. How brave was the one I loved ! My spirit was 
 dead to all other objects. I came to this Mount Eden and 
 lived at his home. On the night of the day on which we 
 arrived, I went out to the courtyard and proclaimed to 
 all the people, ' I will not hide the secret, I will have my 
 husband.' I found him at Rara-tonga ; all the people can 
 5 63
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 understand what I mean. The Rara-tonga tried to make 
 war with the Mount Eden people, but they did not succeed. 
 Puhi-huia will do as she has said. If we attempt to take 
 her by force we shall see her but one day in life, and no 
 more till we meet her in the land of spirits. She will do 
 as she says; there is not any power that can command 
 her." 
 
 The mother of the young chief who first addressed the 
 meeting said, "Yes, the words of Puhi-huia's mother are 
 true, but the young chiefs of this pah are stupid. Yes, you 
 are the veriest cowards, void of daring. Do you think that 
 your bare, untattooed faces will ever gain a wife ? Why is 
 it that Ponga is so noble-looking? He is tattooed, and he 
 looks grand. Yes, it is quite right that you should lose 
 your noble young woman." Others spoke, but all were 
 agreed that it was better to allow their princess to have her 
 way as to her choice of a husband. 
 
 When the morning repast had been eaten, an old priest 
 stood up and said, " How foolish is this people ! We are 
 invited to a feast : then why do we not inform our friends 
 at Awhitu that we will go? Do you not feel a longing to 
 smell the savory scent of sharks' flesh permeating your 
 breath ? I say, ( Send a messenger to tell Puhi-huia that 
 when the moon is at the full we will be there by invita- 
 
 64
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 tion/ " All the people agreed to the proposal thus made, 
 but the mother of Puhi-huia said, " I and my war party 
 will start for Awhitu." She went to her house and 
 took her most valuable garments, gourds of oil, 
 down of the albatross, tail-feathers of the huia 
 bird, and garments made from the kiwi, and all 
 else esteemed valuable in those days, and putting them 
 all into a basket she called one of her female attend- 
 ants and told her to put them on her back. Then she went 
 to the gate and called, " daughters, women, this is our 
 day. To Awhitu, to Awhitu ! And you, men, you will 
 not be able to act as my war party of women will do." 
 
 Sixty women in all passed through the gate and started 
 towards One-hunga. Launching one of their biggest canoes, 
 they paddled for Awhitu. As they neared the shore the 
 mother of Puhi-huia stood up at the helm and said to those 
 who had come out towards them, " you on that shore, put 
 your war mats on and tighten your war belts, for we, the 
 enemy, are here. If you hide yourselves, what can 
 you gain? If you come and stand in view, what can 
 you lose? Come out of your stockade. Why did you 
 rob me of my daughter? What property have I of 
 yours that you should take my precious greenstone and 
 wear it on your breast? Come outside that we may fight 
 our battle." 65
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Puhi-huia again spoke : " I have already told you 
 that you and I shall not meet in life, but if you 
 persist we shall meet in the land of spirits. Why do 
 you dare to blame this tribe when I the sole cause of your 
 anger am here? Keep in your canoe, but let some of your 
 female friends come on shore, that I may do battle with 
 them, and if they kill me, then take my body home in your 
 canoe. I will not be taken home alive by you, but will 
 live with the one I love." Several of the young women 
 came on shore, each with a war weapon in her hand. Puhi- 
 huia said to Ponga, standing near her, " Follow me and see 
 me die." She said to the first of the warriors, " Here am 
 I, the person for whom you have come." The young 
 woman, holding in her hand a whalebone weapon, made a 
 blow at the head of Puhi-huia, who parried the blow, then 
 with the tongue end of her weapon dealt her antagonist 
 such a blow in the pit of her stomach as to bend her double 
 and bring her to the ground. Said our heroine, " Now 
 another of you stand forth to meet me." One with a short 
 spear made a thrust at her, but Puhi-huia parried the 
 blow and hit her with such force on the shoulder as to 
 destroy the power of her arm. A third female soldier 
 attacked our heroine, but a blow in the pit of the stomach 
 put her out of the fight. The fourth stepped forward with 
 
 66
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 a weapon which had no band to hold it to the wrist. It 
 was hit by Puhi-huia with so violent a blow as to send it 
 flying a considerable distance from her. 
 
 Then the mother of Puhi-huia cried out, " young 
 woman, cease now. You have beaten them all ; come back 
 with me to your father." Puhi-huia said, "Will Kupe 
 return?" This is the god who never ceases till he has 
 gained the end at which he aimed. The mother said, 
 " How shall I gain a place in the courtyard of your pah ?" 
 The old chief replied, " If you come by the authority of Tu, 
 the god of war, you must dare and make a road for your- 
 self. If you come in the name of Tahu, the god of peace 
 and plenty, I will make a way for you over the ditch of my 
 stockade." The mother replied, " Have you seen the 
 bravery of your granddaughter? Her ancestors were gods 
 in war. She has inherited their power, she is not to be 
 overcome. If the god of peace and plenty is her guide, 
 what she undertakes she will accomplish. Stay here. I 
 will return to my people, and when the moon is at the full 
 I and my people will come to the feast given when she 
 takes Ponga as her husband." Puhi-huia was standing 
 listening to the words of her mother. As soon as her 
 mother had ceased speaking she went and rubbed noses 
 with the young women whom she had beaten, who with her 
 mother immediately set out for One-hunga. 
 
 67
 
 THE FEAST AND THE WEDDING. 
 
 THE Awhitu people now began to catch fish and dig fern 
 and convolvulus roots, and, having dried them, put them 
 into storehouses and on stages. Then they fished for shark 
 and hung them to dry on long poles one above another. 
 They also speared pigeons and preserved them in their own 
 fat; collected cockles and cooked and dried them. Other 
 ?hellfish also were caught and dried, and roots and bulbs 
 which required cooking for a long time to make them 
 palatable. A couple of days before the moon was full a 
 messenger was sent to Mount Eden to invite the people of 
 that place, to whom he said, " people, you who live in 
 this pah, for you all now is ready ; on the day following 
 to-morrow the feast will be laid in the courtyard of Awhitu. 
 Come all, and welcome." 
 
 On the appointed day the Mount Eden people left One- 
 hunga in their canoes. All came except the very old and 
 decrepit. When they neared the landing-place at Awhitu 
 all the people of that pah rose and waved their garments 
 and sang their usual song of welcome : 
 
 Welcome, welcome, friends, 
 
 I bid you all a welcome, 
 My soul is weary 
 
 Of all cares of home. 
 
 68
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 My wonder is why 
 
 All the noisy crowd 
 So occupy their days 
 
 Beneath the shady trees. 
 But now I know 
 
 The tempting fern root, 
 And the sweet Kauri stem, 
 
 Entice friends here. 
 
 Ye thousand stars above 
 
 Who twinkle over the 
 Highest bough of forest trees, 
 
 Pierce into darkest shade 
 Of forest gloom, 
 
 And startle all the 
 Owls who dwell at 
 
 Our loved home, Awhitu. 
 Thus interesting all the land 
 
 And show with blaze of light, 
 The coveted new roots of fern. 
 
 The staff of life for man, 
 While on the ear he moves, 
 
 And let the new creation 
 Come where hands now toil 
 
 And feet are weary 
 With their walking. 
 
 Call ye, then, our babe, 
 
 Even heaven's own child, 
 Though skin of dusky hue, 
 
 When shall I be so 
 Charmed and follow 
 
 Close the progeny of him 
 They now call Tonga's child, 
 
 Which all the goblins say. 
 Is Lorn of forest lizard. 
 
 69
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Some of the Awhitu men and women went down from 
 their pah to the beach below as those who are going to give 
 battle, with their war paint, feathers and belts around their 
 waists. There they waited for the crews to land, at whom 
 they threw fern stalks and then ran back towards the pah, 
 closely followed at full speed by the best runners of the 
 Mount Eden people. As soon as those they had been pur- 
 suing were in the midst of their own people, the Awhitu 
 tribes danced their war dance. Meanwhile, the guests had 
 all followed up and were now drawn up in war array, 
 kneeling on one knee, looking at their hosts. So soon as 
 the Awhitu people had danced their war dance the visitors 
 followed with one of theirs, and then all, hosts and visitors, 
 joined in one great dance, led by the Awhitu people, all 
 waving their garments. The Mount Eden people followed 
 those of Awhitu into the pah and sat down in the courtyard. 
 The visitors had not been there long when an Awhitu chief 
 rose and made a speech of welcome. 
 
 He said things were better than they had seemed in days 
 gone by. Then war was the rule on every, even little, pro- 
 vocation. He thought a feast was better than a fight, and 
 a dance was to be desired rather than darts poisoned for 
 destruction. The savory smell of roasted shark was more 
 acceptable to all than roasted enemies slain in battle. The 
 
 70
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 young people of Awhitu had been very diligent in search of 
 the best the land yielded, and he hoped their visitors would 
 find their meeting of the Awhitu people at the wedding a 
 means of binding together in closer bonds the two great 
 tribes which in earlier days had been the bitter enemies 
 of each other. 
 
 A Mount Eden chief followed with an eloquent avowal 
 that a sincere desire for peace between the tribes had very 
 much more to do with their coming to Awhitu than the 
 savory smell of the flesh of the shark or the luscious fibre 
 of the sweet potato. They came also because of the invi- 
 tation from the noble of birth who had chosen to change 
 her home from Mount Eden to Awhitu. It was a grief 
 to the Mount Eden people to lose one for whom they had 
 so great admiration, but they were glad she was so near 
 and still one of their great tribal family. 
 
 A chief of high rank of the Awhitu people, with a rod in 
 his hand, stepped up to the heap of food and struck it with 
 his rod, saying, " This food, this food is for all the tribes 
 of the Mount Eden people in all their boundaries. The 
 father of Puhi-huia then arose and with a rod touched one 
 end of the food heap and said, " This food, this food 
 is for all the people of the Awhitu tribes through 
 all their boundaries." Then each tribe took their 
 
 71
 
 MAORIS OP NEW ZEALAND 
 
 own portion assigned them and ate it. When the 
 feast ended, the head chief of Awhitu rose and 
 went to the heap of those things counted of great 
 value as huia feathers, albatross down, mats, greenstone 
 and other precious articles and said, "These valuables, 
 these valuables are for our ancestors who have gone to the 
 world of spirits. These valuables, these valuables are 
 for the priests and chiefs and for the family of my 
 daughter Puhi-huia." These gifts were left in the court- 
 yard until the evening, when they were distributed to the 
 Mount Eden people. 
 
 After this the Mount Eden people went to their canoes 
 and brought with them to the courtyard of their 
 hosts dried codfish, dried mackerel and eels, preserved 
 kiwi, cooked Maori dog, rats and preserved pigeons. A 
 heap, also, was made of weapons of war and war gar- 
 ments and other costly articles. When the last of the 
 tribe had added his contribution, the father of Puhi- 
 huia, standing near the heaps, said, "Hearken, world 
 of Darkness, and hearken, world of Light, here are 
 valuables for you; ye gods and ye ancients and ye 
 descendants of Hotu-nui, here is property for you; and 
 you, my child, here is your property ; and as you have left 
 me I sorrow for you, I weep for you, but my most 
 
 72
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 valuable property, as you must leave me, go, oh, go. 
 If you had gone to death all would have been lost with 
 you, but as this is but another canoe of our ancestors, and 
 as we are also a canoe of the same, then go, yes, go, oh, 
 go." 
 
 Though the old man's power to sing had long since 
 ceased, yet his mind being clear and bright he repeated 
 for the one now leaving, and for some of his who had gone 
 to the spirit land, an old song often sung and repeated 
 under similar conditions: 
 
 I silent sit as throbs my heart, 
 
 Sighing for my children, 
 All those who look on me, 
 
 As now I bow my head, 
 May deem me but a forest tree, 
 
 From distant lands. 
 
 I bow my head as droops 
 
 The weeping fern, 
 And tears start for my children, 
 
 Oh! my child, so often called, 
 Come, oh! my child. 
 
 My house is swept, clean swept, 
 
 Clean swept forever, 
 The shining sun has nought 
 
 To gladden now. 
 And yonder peak oft 
 
 Oazed upon in days of joy 
 
 73
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Now prompts the sigh, 
 
 To heave with chill 
 Of coldest air fresh 
 
 From the frosty south. 
 
 Oh, was it theft that makes 
 
 The moon to wane? 
 Or was it theft that makes 
 
 The mighty avalanche? 
 And was it they who 
 
 Caused my children's death? 
 The hosts of god uplift 
 
 Their power on us, 
 And now annihilate us, 
 
 Like the moa extinct. 
 
 When the old chief had ceased Puhi-huia arose and stood 
 where she had been sitting at the side of Ponga, and said, 
 " my parents and grandparents, welcome, welcome ! 
 Come and see the one who ran away from you. Is the evil 
 mine ? Did I determine that Ti-ki should be a man ? Or 
 that Kauataata should be a woman? No, this was done 
 by the gods referred to in the speeches made by you. These 
 gods were your progenitors. Is it wrong for me to follow 
 in the steps of Kauataata? She is your progenitor and 
 from her you take your sacredness, and from her you 
 receive the gods who preside over you. She took one of 
 her choice for a husband. If I am doing wrong, then your 
 female ancestors did wrong also. If she had lived alone 
 
 74
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 and kept to single life, none of you had ever seen the light 
 of this world. The evil is not mine, it is your evil. 
 
 " When she saw the one she loved she recklessly pursued, 
 and as your gods and you opened the path for such acts I 
 followed in your footprints. This wrong of my leaving you 
 is one of your own acts and was not of my planning. It 
 is good that you have come to our feast. Now I say to you 
 assembled here, and to all our tribes, that my husband, my 
 husband, yes, my husband, is Ponga." 
 
 A more loyal Maori or more loving husband was never 
 known among New Zealand natives than Ponga. Nor was 
 there of them all a more devoted and loving wife than 
 Puhi-huia. For nearly twenty years the life of husband 
 and wife was one of uninterrupted peace, contentment and 
 prosperity. 
 
 One son was born to them. He was called a tau-tihi, 
 because he had neither a predecessor nor successor what 
 we would call an only child. 
 
 When he had very nearly arrived at manhood and had 
 been tattooed, news came that one of the tribes of their 
 great nation, who had gone to Wai-ta-ra to buy garments 
 in exchange for their own local products, had been mur- 
 dered and eaten. 
 
 One hundred warriors collected immediately at Wai-uku, 
 
 75
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 and from thence set out to avenge the murder of their 
 relatives. Fifty more left their home at Awhitu and went 
 up the Wai-ka-to river, where they were joined hy fifty 
 more of their people, all bent on severely punishing those 
 who had so offended and wronged their nation. 
 
 The first hundred, after killing some of the murderers 
 and their friends at Pu-ke-aruhe, and many more in the 
 surrounding district, returned home. The second hundred, 
 who went by way of the Wai-ka-to, and then on to Mokau, 
 and thence on to Maro-kopa, were never heard of again 
 by their friends at Awhitu. Whatever befell them no Maori 
 knows to this day. All traces of them were lost forever. 
 Ponga was one of these. 
 
 After many moons, when no tidings could be had of her 
 beloved, Puhi-huia set out with her son to seek their lost 
 one. Before her departure she sang this mournful song 
 of lament for him whom she loved more than her life : 
 
 How grand the mountain 
 Piki-horo looks. How shall I 
 Weep and tell my sorrow 
 For thee, oh, my beloved ! 
 
 Keen sorrow, day and night, 
 And pain of lacerated 
 Flesh, my trembling 
 Frame o'erpowers. 
 
 76
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Oh, would some priest 
 Enchantments bring, 
 And in the stream 
 Revive my soul. 
 
 I know, oh, yes, I know 
 The house where Tatan dwelt, 
 And where the Mae-waho, 
 fh crowds, all met their doom. 
 
 And slept in death, and 
 Where the Pona-turi's voice 
 Was hushed to speak no more. 
 So I for thee will mourn, beloved. 
 
 The sorrowing Puhi-huia and her son, hoping against 
 hope that they might yet get some tidings of him whom 
 in vain they sought, went up the Wai-ka-to river, and there, 
 with friends, remained for some weeks; thence to Mokau, 
 where they stayed for a few months, soliciting tidings from 
 all who came down the river. They then proceeded to 
 Kawhia and tarried there several days, and then up the 
 Kawhia river and through the mountains of that region. 
 
 Through these long journeys, sometimes at the homes of 
 their friends, whose hearts were full of sympathy for them 
 in their patient quest: sometimes lodging in the caves of 
 the mountains or under the broad fronds of the palm fern, 
 Puhi-huia imparted to her son, in whom was all her hope 
 if their search should fail, many of those songs and legends 
 and historic events of her fathers, from the ancients down 
 
 77
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 to her own times. Being the daughter of the highest of 
 all the chiefs of her people, she was by birth the noblest 
 Maori of them all. She had, therefore, had opportunities 
 to learn these things, such as the more common people of 
 her nation had not enjoyed. 
 
 What more could she do than was done by the mother 
 of the great Hebrew lawgiver pass on to her son a 
 correct knowledge of all the history, religious beliefs 
 and poetical productions of her people, that he might hand 
 them down to those coming after him ? 
 
 Each mother taught according to her light. What could 
 she do more? And the light which fell upon the earlier 
 maternal instructor, we may discover, imparted also some 
 of its rays, even though very faint, to the mind of the 
 later teacher. 
 
 A record of Puhi-huia's talks with her son may not be 
 of so much value to us as the conversations of Jochebed, the 
 wife of Amram, with hers, yet when we find that in some 
 degree they really are related and similar, so that the 
 threads of Puhi-huia's teachings, though rotten threads, 
 perhaps, are, after all, from the same texture as that woven 
 by the mother of the great lawgiver, the subject before us 
 becomes more interesting. 
 
 The heathen are not altogether dark, as in earlier days 
 
 78
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 they have been supposed to be. There are, here and there, 
 thoughts which Christian men may respect. These better 
 thoughts, rising far above the bulk of their beliefs and 
 superstitions, are simply scattered rays, perhaps piercing 
 the clouds above them, yet rays from that infinite Sun 
 which enlightens us all. 
 
 Aside from this, we shall learn something of the thoughts 
 of our brethren who have lacked our opportunities and 
 advantages. We shall learn something of men who had 
 nothing in common with ourselves except that they were 
 men. When I say " nothing," I mean, of course, our civil- 
 ization. The question has been sometimes very reasonably 
 asked, What, after all, is civilization? And according to 
 our standards of civilization, is it an advantage? While 
 that condition we designate as such certainly does deliver 
 us from some forms of evil, it seems to burden us with other 
 forms of evil. In some respects it is terribly and painfully 
 overdone. The conventionalities of society often burden 
 us with chains from which anyone loving true freedom is 
 glad to escape. 
 
 Happy is that one who is content with the simpler life 
 life among the lowly. 
 
 " Oh, but these Maoris used to eat their fellow creatures, 
 especially in times of war." 
 6 79
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Not until after their fellow creatures were dead, and 
 then only slain enemies. Paul seemed to think that there 
 were some to whom he found it necessary to say, " If ye 
 bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not con- 
 sumed one of another." 
 
 I fancy the biting and devouring to which the Apostle 
 had reference is not a very great improvement upon the 
 cannibal consumption of a slain and roasted enemy. I 
 don't commend either the one or the other, but what is the 
 use of blinking at it? It is worse. Many a poor, honest, 
 yet nervous and sensitive soul has been done to the death 
 by the gossipy and slanderous tongues of empty-headed and 
 Christless-minded members of the Church, who, while they 
 professed to be followers of a meek and loving Master, were 
 cannibals of the lowest degree. 
 
 By way of preface to his warning Paul gives us the only 
 basis upon which a true civilization can be founded and 
 built up, namely, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
 self." If we rise to this standard we shall bite and devour 
 our neighbors neither with our teeth nor with our tongue. 
 
 I said, some distance back, that there were some reasons 
 for thinking their ancestors came to New Zealand from the 
 Sandwich Islands, although that cannot be established for 
 a certainty. 
 
 80
 
 Assuming that to be a fact, we can easily account for 
 some of their religious ideas being quite in harmony with 
 those great truths taught by Moses. It must be that the 
 Sandwich Islanders from the very beginning of their his- 
 tory knew something of the teachings of our own great 
 inspired lawgiver, though how they came by that knowledge 
 will ever remain a mystery to men. 
 
 I spent three very pleasant weeks at Honolulu, my home 
 while there being at the residence of the Rev. Dr. Beckwith, 
 pastor of the Congregational Church. I found in his 
 library a work consisting of three volumes written by " A. 
 Fornander," who was for thirty-four years an official of 
 the Hawaiian Government. He had a native wife. He 
 was for several years Circuit Judge of Maui. 
 
 I could not persuade the Doctor to sell me the work. I 
 wrote my son in London, who visited ten of the largest 
 second-hand book stores, but he could not secure me a copy. 
 Fortunately I took some notes, though I regret I did not 
 possess myself of a larger supply. 
 
 I give the reader the benefit of the notes I have. I have 
 already said that they had a system of refuge cities and 
 traditions of the flood, with Nui (Noah) as the chief per- 
 sonage. The ancient Hawaiians worshipped one god, who 
 in himself embraced three beings, equal in nature but 
 
 81
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 distinct in attributes. The first was, however, considered 
 greater than the other two. 
 
 These gods were Ka-ne, Ku and Lono. These existed 
 from all eternity. 
 
 By an act of their will they broke Chaos in pieces that 
 Light might enter into space. 
 
 They then created the heavens, three in number, as their 
 dwelling place, and the earth to be their footstool. 
 
 Next they created the sun, moon and stars and angels. 
 
 Last of all they created man, a model after the image of 
 Ka-ne. 
 
 The body of the first man was made of red earth. His 
 head was made of whitish clay which was brought from the 
 four ends of the world. 
 
 When the earth image of Ka-ne was finished, the three 
 gods breathed into its nose and called on it to rise, and it 
 became a living being. 
 
 Afterwards the first woman was made from one of the 
 ribs of the man when he was asleep. 
 
 These two are called in Polynesian chants and legends 
 by a great variety of names, the most common being, for 
 the man, " Ku-mu-honua," and, for the woman, "Ke-ola- 
 ku-honua." 
 
 Getting away from the Hawaiian group, where these 
 
 82
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 things were taught, many hundreds of miles farther south, 
 and after very many, many moons, with no written lan- 
 guage, it is not wonderful that other ideas had crept into 
 the minds of the natives of other islands in the southern 
 seas. 
 
 The people in some of the Polynesian group had a tradi- 
 tion which related that in the beginning there was no life, 
 light or sound. 
 
 A boundless night enveloped everything over which the 
 god Tanaoa (darkness) and the god Mutu-hei (silence) 
 ruled supreme. 
 
 The god Atea (light) separated himself from Tanaoa 
 (darkness), made war on him, drove him away and con- 
 fined him within limits. 
 
 The earth, they say, was fished up out of the sea by 
 Tanaoa. Some of them claim that man was a direct crea- 
 tion of Tanaoa, who made him out of red clay, and then 
 made woman out of one of his bones ; hence she was called 
 " iwi," that is, a bone. 
 
 The Hawaiians said that the home of the first pair was 
 a beautiful land, a very sacred land. The man, they said, 
 must have been very holy who could dwell there. They 
 sang of it in their chants. 
 
 According to their tradition, a beautiful river ran 
 
 83
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 through this land. Its banks were very splendid. Its 
 waters had such life-giving properties that if a man who 
 had been killed were sprinkled with it he would come to 
 life again. 
 
 In this wonderful land there grew a tree called the ulu- 
 kapu-a-kane, or the tabooed or forbidden bread-fruit of 
 the god. Here is part of a chant referring to the trouble 
 which came to man from having eaten of this tabooed fruit. 
 While the result, according to the sentiment of the chant, 
 tallies well with the account given by Moses, the chant 
 seems to make that account more emphatic. 
 
 Oh! Kane, Laao, uli, uli, uli! 
 Oh! fallen chief, dead by the 
 Feast. Dead by the oath, 
 Dead by the law. 
 
 Oh, vanish the stars, 
 Oh, vanish the light, 
 In company with 
 The blushing moon. 
 
 Cursed be my hand, 
 Cut off through my cause. 
 I am dead by the law, 
 Yes, indeed, truly. 
 
 Oh! Kane, Laao, uli, uli! 
 To the gods disobedient. 
 May you speedily returr 
 Again to the dust. 
 
 84
 
 ENTRANCE TO A CEMETERY
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 The deluge was caused by two bad grandsons of the god 
 killing a favorite bird. When he remonstrated with them 
 they added insolent language to their wrong-doing. 
 
 To punish them, he gathered the clouds, which burst 
 over them. Towns, villages, mountains and plains were 
 all submerged. The rebels cried to a god, who instructed 
 them how to make a big canoe, by which eight persons 
 were saved. Among all these South Sea peoples are many 
 versions of the story of the great flood. Not all of them 
 give the name of the principal actor. One of these ver- 
 sions, however, gives this person the name Nui (Noah), as 
 briefly stated in a preceding page. He, by command of his 
 god, made a large boat ("the royal vessel"), by which he 
 and his wife and his three sons and their wives were saved. 
 
 When the flood subsided, the three gods, Ka-ne, Ku and 
 Lono, entered the royal vessel and commanded him to go 
 forth, which he did. He found himself on the top of a 
 very high mountain, where for a time he dwelt in a cave 
 with his family. He named the cave after his wife, and 
 there it is to this day to assure you that this tale is true. 
 
 When Nui came from the royal vessel he took a pig and 
 some cocoanuts to offer as a sacrifice to Ka-ne, the chief 
 deity. As he worshipped, looking up he saw the moon. 
 
 85
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 He said, " No doubt you are Ka-ne," and so he offered his 
 sacrifice to the moon. 
 
 The god descended on the rainbow and rebuked him, 
 but as Nui had done it ignorantly and at once had asked 
 forgiveness, he was forgiven, and the god reascended to 
 heaven, leaving behind him the rainbow as a sign or token 
 of his mercy. 
 
 Stones, partly dressed, about six feet high, are common 
 emblems of worship, and if near a dwelling are significant 
 of family worship. 
 
 At Koto-rua, in New Zealand, I saw one of these sacred 
 stones, which was said to have been lost for many years 
 and its loss greatly lamented, but it was rediscovered on 
 ground where a great battle had been fought. 
 
 It was locked up in a small, well-built house, about the 
 size of a sentry-box. The tribe professed that the key 
 could not be found. A fellow tourist and I succeeded, how- 
 ever, by prying up an unfastened window, in getting a 
 glimpse of this celebrated stone, in the estimation of the 
 Maoris one of the most sacred relics of their past history. 
 
 I have dwelt longer on the beliefs of the more northern 
 groups of the Islands of the Pacific, because of the more 
 definite doctrines of the Polynesians, and because the writer 
 from whom I have taken these definite statements has with 
 
 86
 
 MAORI WOOD CARVING
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 such great research made himself so familiar, and has with 
 great credit to himself given us such interesting and 
 valuable information. 
 
 I repeat, where, when or how all these people, so far 
 removed from the centres of our civilization and intelli- 
 gence, obtained their ideas, so fully in harmony with our 
 own ideas respecting the origin and early history of our 
 race, must, I presume, ever remain a mystery. 
 
 With the Maoris, Ta-ne (not Ka-ne) is God. Eangi is 
 heaven, Pa-pa is earth. The first man was Ti-ki (tee-bee), 
 and Mariko was the first woman. 
 
 When their first child was born clouds began to skim 
 over the sky. There were dark clouds, black clouds, and 
 very black clouds. 
 
 Water began to flow, and the banks of rivers were seen 
 and dry land was preserved from floods. 
 
 Then was the earth seen in the dawn of day. There was 
 lightning and thunder. Then came rivulets and streams 
 flowing on to the rivers. 
 
 Then was seen the full light of day, and Ta-ne propped 
 the heavens up and great Rangi was seen above. Then 
 light and day were complete. 
 
 To Ta-ne belongs the taboo (prohibited) of everything 
 sacred. 
 
 87
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 This is the chant of Ta-ne relating to the creation of 
 man: 
 
 Seeking most earnestly, 
 Seeking in the gloom, 
 Searching. Searching on 
 The bounds of light and day. 
 Looking into night, for 
 Night had conceived 
 The seed of night, the heart. 
 The foundation of night 
 Had stood forth self-existing, 
 Even in the gloom. 
 
 It grows in gloom like sap 
 And succulent parts of life, 
 And the pulsating cup of life, 
 The shadows screen the 
 Faintest gleam of light, 
 The procreating power and 
 Ecstasy of life of man first known 
 And joy of issuing forth of man, 
 From deep silence into sound. 
 
 Thus the progeny of man 
 From Tane the great extending, 
 Filled the heaven's expanse. 
 The charms of life created 
 Arose and swelled in ecstasy, 
 Then rested long in bliss 
 Of happy calm and quiet. 
 
 There were many chiefs and priests when men had 
 grown numerous upon the earth. 
 
 88
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Rua-tai-ao (ti-ow) preached the words of life to the 
 greater portion of the people, but many were disobedient. 
 
 Wi, another good priest, taught the people all the laws 
 of Ta-ne, having derived his power and wisdom from Ta-ne. 
 He said, " friends, hearken to the words by which we 
 may be saved. Live peaceably. Do not work evil. Do 
 not be disobedient. Do not be intemperate. Do not offer 
 false, lying worship, but let your worship be true. 
 
 These people and their leaders resisted. 
 
 Wi spoke to Wa and Mini, and said, " young people, 
 you two, hearken to my words which I now utter. When 
 you eat, give thanks. Educate and build up the soul, that 
 it may go correctly to the world of spirits. Believe what 
 I now tell you, as this is the truth of Ta-ne." 
 
 They did not hearken. Wi thus preached for two years 
 to this unbelieving people. 
 
 He then called to them and said, " Soon, on the morrow, 
 the land will be overturned by God." So when the days 
 were ended, he prayed to Ta-ne, and the land was over- 
 turned and all those wicked people perished. 
 
 Puta was another of the priests who preached to the 
 people in those days. He built a temple in which to teach 
 men how to become noble. 
 
 They were rebellious and said, " Puta, can your wor- 
 
 89
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 ship save you?" Puta replied, "Hearken, friends, to 
 the words I now disclose to you. They are the words of 
 Ta-ne. If you hearken not, soon the hosts above will make 
 accusation." 
 
 The proud people answered, " Friend, your words are 
 lies." Men had then become very numerous upon the 
 earth. There were a great many tribes. Evil prevailed 
 everywhere. Men obstinately opposed the teachings of 
 these good priests and declared them to be false, and 
 asserted that Eangi and Pa-pa, heaven and earth, were as 
 they had been from the first, and that Ta-ne had not done 
 and would not do as they taught. 
 
 Then Tupu-nui-a-uta and Para-mea got stone axes and 
 cut down totara trees and other light timbers and dragged 
 them to the mouth of the river To-hing-a. They bound 
 the timbers together with vines of the pirata and made a 
 very wide raft. 
 
 Then they repeated an incantation prayer and built a 
 house on the raft and put much food into it, and then they 
 prayed that rain might come in such abundance as would 
 convince men of the power of Ta-ne and prove the truth of 
 his existence and the necessity of worship for life and 
 peace. 
 
 The priest on the raft prayed that it might rain in great 
 torrents. 90
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 On the next day the rain had reached the settlements. 
 All men and women were drowned of those who had denied 
 the doctrines of Ta-ne. 
 
 The raft floated down to the sea and for many days went 
 hither and thither till at length it reached the land again. 
 
 Those on the raft thought that some of the people of the 
 world might perhaps still he alive and that the earth might 
 still have the same appearance as it had before the flood. 
 They saw, however, when they had landed, that not one of 
 all human beings remained except themselves, and that the 
 earth was greatly changed. It had cracked in places and 
 had evidently been turned upside down. 
 
 When they landed they repeated incantations to all the 
 gods and offered sacrifice of seaweed. 
 
 After this, the high priest, with a branch of a tree in his 
 hand, went to the edge of the water, and, dipping the 
 branch into it, he turned and faced the people and waved 
 his hand towards them and threw the water in their 
 direction. This he did three times. Then, returning to 
 his people, he sat down by a fire produced by friction in 
 which to cook fern root as an offering to the gods for the 
 company rescued from the flood. They sat until the fire 
 had all gone out and the sun had set on the first day of 
 
 91
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 their restoration. In joy they produced fire by friction and 
 cooked food and ate it and slept. 
 
 On the morrow, when they had eaten their morning meal, 
 they looked up and there they saw 1 the rainbow in the sky. 
 
 Eaki, one of the gods, said to Ta-ne and to his younger 
 brothers, " Come and kill me that men may live." 
 
 Ta-ne said, " How: shall we kill you ?" 
 
 Raki answered, "Lift me up above, that I may stand 
 separate, that light may come upon you all. If I die, then 
 light and day will be in the world." 
 
 Ta-whaki, another of the gods, at one time lived in the 
 earth, and, though a god, he had the appearance of a man. 
 His garments were like those of a poor man. 
 
 He went up to the top of a mountain and sat down. 
 Then he put off his earthly garments and clothed himself 
 with lightning. From thence all the people looked on him 
 as a god and all the tribes chanted incantations and offered 
 sacrifice to him. 
 
 Ta-whaki was killed by some of his own relations, but he 
 was innocent of the deed for which he was killed. By his 
 own inherent power he came to life again. He climbed, 
 by means of a spider's web, into heaven, into all the various 
 heavens, chanting incantations as he went. There he 
 learned the incantations which are there taught, and then 
 
 92
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 returned to earth and taught them to men. He then 
 returned to heaven and there remained. 
 
 I have picked out the foregoing from very much that 
 they have themselves invented, and which therefore would 
 be of small interest to the reader, who, I think, will feel 
 with me that the Maoris at some perhaps very early date 
 had not only heard the story of creation as told in Genesis, 
 but also the story of redemption as it is told us in the New 
 Testament. 
 
 Here is a very ancient lament said to have been taught 
 to men by the god Ta-whaki, who, as I have just shown, 
 died an innocent victim for men : 
 
 Bow to earth and bow to 
 Heaven. Wilt thou, O man? 
 With craving hunger driven, 
 Weary, gaunt and near insanity, 
 Must wander, aimless and alone, 
 While death creeps nearer still. 
 And to one focus draws 
 Thy path of glory. 
 
 Honor, fame and joy 
 Which youth laid out 
 But blots and blurs 
 The whole, whilst staggering 
 Thou canst scarcely sweep 
 The grass aside that grows 
 Along the path that leads 
 Up to thy home in heaven. 
 
 93
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 How cowed and servile 
 Gnawing hunger makes 
 The soulless frame to stagger, 
 When at low eventide 
 The reeling form oft seeks 
 To eat the refuse cockles 
 Cooked and left by others. 
 
 How crushed by shame 
 Once noble self now dies 
 Within, as crouching, 
 Thou drawest near, 
 To see thy boyhood's home. 
 No welcome greets by 
 Uttered words, or calls 
 Aloud thy name. 
 
 But thou must onward pass, 
 And in the path of famine, 
 Up to the gate of heaven, 
 Go, where though a starved 
 One, thou mayest hear 
 The welcome word 
 That bids thee come. 
 
 From their folklore I cull some of their legends, which 
 generally are so absurd the reader would not find much 
 interest in them. Two or three of them, however, may 
 be acceptable and serve as fairly good specimens of the 
 whole. 
 
 94
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 THE LEGEND OF Toi AND TAMA. 
 
 A dog of Tama had eaten something which Toi had 
 intended for hie own dinner, so what should Toi do hut 
 eat the dog, after he had killed and cooked him. 
 
 Tama went hunting for his dog, calling louder and 
 louder, till at last the dog howled " Ow, ow," in the stomach 
 of Toi. Tama and his brother went on calling again and 
 again, and the dog kept answering " Ow, ow." Then Toi 
 held his mouth tight shut, just as close as ever he could, 
 putting his hand over it, but the dog kept howling, " Ow, 
 ow." 
 
 Toi said, " Oh, hush, hush ! I thought I had hid you in 
 the big stomach of Toi, but there you are, howling away, 
 you cursed thing." 
 
 When Tama and his brother had located the dog, Tama 
 said to Toi, who was his relative, " Why did you not kill 
 the dog and bring it back to me, that my heart might have 
 felt satisfied ? " But Toi said, " Yes, but if I had not eaten 
 the dog, when he had eaten my dinner, my stomach would 
 not have felt satisfied." , 
 
 We can come a little nearer home to get stories from some 
 of our own ancestors not a whit better than this : 
 In Caxton's life of St. Patrick we are told that, "it 
 7 95
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 happed on a time that a man of that centre (Ireland) 
 stole a shepe which belonged to a neighbor, whereupon St. 
 Patrick admonished the people that the shepe must be 
 restored. The man that had stolen the shepe made no sign, 
 whereupon St. Patrick commanded by the virtue of God 
 that the shepe should blete and crye in the belly of him 
 that had eaten it; and so happed it that in the presence 
 of all the people, the shepe cryed and bleted in the belly of 
 him that stole it; and the man that was culpable repented 
 him of his tresspace and others thenne forthe were kept 
 from stelying of shepe from any other man." 
 
 THE LEGEND OP MAUI (mow-ee). 
 
 Maui went on a fishing excursion with his brother-in- 
 law, Ira-wara. Maui caught no fish, for his hook had no 
 barbs. He expressed surprise that his companion should 
 catch so many and he none. 
 
 Their lines became entangled and both felt the fish 
 jerking. Maui said, " Let me pull the lines to me, as the 
 fish is on my hook." The other said, " Not so. The fish 
 is on my hook." 
 
 Maui said, " Let me pull my line in, then." 
 
 Ira-waru did so, and then saw that the fish was on hip 
 hook. 
 
 96
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 He said, " Untwist the lines and let mine go, that I may 
 pull the fish in." 
 
 Maui was so enraged that when they reached the shore 
 he sprang upon Ira-waru, knocked him down, trod on him, 
 pulled his backbone out long and turned him into a dog. 
 On reaching home, his sister said, " Where is my husband ?" 
 
 He replied, " He wished me to say that you were to go 
 and bring his fish. If you do not see him, if he does not 
 come, call for him as you would call for a dog." She went, 
 but not seeing her husband, she called aloud for him. 
 When he did not come she called, " Moi, moi, mo-i-i-i." 
 
 Ira-waru heard the voice of his wife and came towards 
 her, wagging his tail. She was quite shocked and over- 
 come by the appearance of her husband, and returned home 
 weeping, followed by her husband. 
 
 She took a girdle and apron to bind around her, that she 
 might go to the sea and drown herself and be eaten by the 
 monsters of the deep. Having arrived at the seacoast, she 
 is credited with having composed the following song. 
 
 Of course, the story is a mere idle legend, with no founda- 
 tion in fact, yet the song is there. It must have been the 
 offspring of some Maori bard, and counted among a thou- 
 sand such, collected by Sir George Gray, who spent so many 
 years among them, without any written language or books 
 
 97
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 to aid him to master their tongue and possess himself of 
 the wonderful literary productions of these very extra- 
 ordinary people. 
 
 I weep, I call to 
 The steep billows of 
 The sea. To him the 
 Great, the ocean god, 
 To monsters all, 
 Now hidden there, 
 And all the seals, to 
 Come and me entomb. 
 
 To me, who now am 
 Wrapped in the mourning garb, 
 And let the waves 
 Wear mourning, too. 
 There let me sleep, 
 As sleeps the dead. 
 
 I weep, I call to monster 
 Shells of ocean deep, 
 And thou great wave 
 Of endless roar, to 
 Come and me engulf, 
 Yes, me, who calling now, 
 Implore a mighty host 
 To come and gratify 
 My ardent wish. 
 Oh! let the heavens wear 
 Their mourning garb, 
 And let me sleep 
 The sleep of death. 
 
 98
 
 MAOKIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 The absurd legend goes on to say that she threw herself 
 into the sea, but after many moons her body drifted ashore, 
 where it was found by two brothers. 
 
 When they saw how beautiful she was they rubbed the 
 moss and seaweed from her face and placed her close by 
 the fire, and soon she came to life again. 
 
 When asked her name, she gave them a new name which 
 meant that she was a child of the ocean. 
 
 Tine-rau (tiny-row) took her to his home for his wife, 
 but he had two wives already, who kicked up something 
 more than a tiny row on seeing this new and handsome 
 arrival, so they cursed her and tried to kill her. 
 
 She was so grieved at their conduct that she determined 
 to bewitch them, and for this purpose she chanted the fol- 
 lowing incantation: (I give a few lines of it in Maori, as 
 it may be interesting to the reader.) 
 
 Haruru to toki 
 Nga hoa ta toki 
 Hei paoltto 
 Uru to toki 
 Tena toki ka 
 Haruru tena 
 Toki ka ngatoro 
 Ko te toki o 
 Whlro te tupua 
 Manawa ko koe 
 Kai tangata. 
 
 99
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Let the booming 
 Blows of the axe be 
 Heard, and pain the head 
 With deafening din. 
 The axe? O yes, the axe, 
 To smite your head, 
 The axe to scatter 
 All your brains. 
 
 Oh! now the blows 
 Of the axe are heard. 
 The chips are seen, 
 Scattered far and wide, 
 Yes, the great axe of Whiro, 
 The monster and avenger, 
 The great man eater. 
 
 No sooner was the charm repeated (so Maoris say) than 
 the heels of the jealous rivals were seen in the air and their 
 bodies were stretched lifeless upon the ground, and the mer- 
 maid had her new husband all to herself. 
 
 The following song is accredited to the wife of a chief- 
 tain who was slain in one of their great battles : 
 
 How cold and dim it is 
 Within the house, for frhou, 
 My love, art to a distance gone, 
 And I must wait the throng, 
 If out on ocean far 
 What shall I see? 
 Shall keen regret 
 Thy soul then tightly hold? 
 
 100
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Ah! no, I feel that them 
 Art one of those from 
 Whom come with daring 
 Thoughts of war. 
 But what can be the 
 Deadly pain I feel 
 Now throbbing in my heart 
 That burns as fire within. 
 
 I dread the future now, 
 
 Yet all will be forgotten 
 
 In the depths of darkest gloom, 
 
 Oh! come back to thy wife, 
 
 Nor let her feel and dread 
 
 The awe oft felt by those 
 
 Who wait the coming of the foe 
 
 To make them slaves. 
 
 Oh! Te-po-ea, where wast 
 Thou then when my bright 
 Days were young? 
 We loved each other 
 Then, as others loved. 
 But though cast down, 
 And left as wrecked canoe, 
 I shall not be destroyed, 
 But I shall still, like 
 The oanoe, be strong again, 
 And by the ocean wind 
 Glide o'er its rippling waves 
 Where often calm is felt. 
 
 Another fallen chieftain's wife sang her mournful dirge 
 for her dead beloved. Surely, how like ourselves these poor 
 
 101
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 people are. They, too, have hearts that feel life's burdens 
 and life's woes. What a blessed Gospel is ours for all our 
 race. It only can bring comfort. 
 
 Ah, wind ! now passing to 
 The north, blow, blow gently 
 On my path, but onward go, 
 Go first and I will follow, 
 Will follow thee. 
 
 Lead, that we may onward 
 
 Go by this path to the 
 World of spirits. Ah, me! to 
 That world and isles 
 Where life is great. 
 Where I may see, ah, me! 
 Where I may see but him, 
 
 Ah me! 
 
 The following story will show the ingenuity of a tactical 
 warrior : 
 
 When a battle was apparently imminent, a principal chief 
 commanding the expedition on the one side, greatly fearing, 
 as the two forces drew quite near to each other, that the 
 opposing force was very much stronger than his own, said 
 to his followers, " people, light fires at some little dis- 
 tance from each other. Let them be large. Let three 
 women be at each fire with some of you men, and let each 
 man make a speech, and let a man at each fire speak, and 
 
 102
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 speak at the same time, and let all say, * Be brave to fight 
 on the morrow, sons, when we are attacked by our enemy. 
 Do not think of life.' " 
 
 The men thus directed did as their chief suggested, and 
 as they used their voices the sound was loud and strong, 
 like a great trumpet uttering a war call which might be 
 heard far off. 
 
 So thus these warriors spoke, and brave were their throats 
 to utter such speeches as they made. These great, loud- 
 sounding speeches, being heard by the enemy, made them 
 think that an immense army was encamped just in front of 
 them, and they fled back to their country, and their fear 
 was so great that they never returned to attack their wily 
 opponent. 
 
 It is a mistake to suppose that the condition of Maori 
 life was one of privation, suffering and gloom in times of 
 peace. On the contrary, it was rather a pleasant life. 
 There was usually an abundance and a variety of food. 
 
 There was also agreeable and healthy occupation both 
 for mind and body. Each season of the year and each 
 part of the day had its specially allotted work both for men 
 and women. 
 
 The women, in addition to such household duties as cook- 
 
 103
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 ing and cleaning their houses, made the bedding and 
 clothing required for their families. They gathered the 
 wild flax and prepared its fibre for use, and worked it up 
 into a great variety of articles both useful and ornamental, 
 many of which required several months to complete. 
 
 The men gathered the food and stored it in " whata," or 
 storehouses built upon tall posts to protect it from damp 
 and rats. One of these "whata" was owned by every 
 family. 
 
 Besides such natural products of the soil as fern root, 
 stems of the tui-palm, and convolvulus roots, they cultivated 
 the kumura or sweet potato, tara and karaka. 
 
 Fish were caught in the proper season and prepared for 
 storage by drying. Wild pigeons, kaka (parrots), ducks 
 and titi (mutton birds) were cooked and preserved in their 
 own fat, in vessels made of large kelp leaves and bound 
 round with totora bark to give them strength. 
 
 Netting, carving, grinding by friction, and fitting stone 
 implements and weapons occupied the time of the old men 
 and a good deal of the time of the young men as well. 
 
 I visited several of these " pahs," or villages, during my 
 stay of nearly a year in New Zealand, and have in my 
 possession a goodly number of specimens of articles such 
 as they manufacture at their homes. 
 
 104
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 I visited one pah in the hot lake district where they need 
 no fire of any kind, cooking being done by means of the 
 boiling hot water which comes bubbling to the surface from 
 the depths below. Over a hole a foot or so in diameter 
 they hang a dressed pig in a packing case, got from the 
 white village near by, and cook him thoroughly in a couple 
 of hours or so. The women, with dippers with long 
 handles, lifted boiling water out of the earth for washing, 
 or making tea. 
 
 They beguile the winter evenings by tales' of myths, his- 
 torical traditions, tribal genealogies, chanting and singing 
 poetry, by telling fairy tales, or performing the haki-haki 
 games or the hari-hari war dances. 
 
 It was only when they were ill or were harassed by their 
 enemies in times of war that the ancient Maori could be 
 said, with any truth, to be unhappy. Even in war, the able- 
 bodied men delighted in it, so here also, among this class 
 of Maori, there was no real unhappiness, especially for the 
 victor, though woe unto the unhappy ones who proved the 
 weaker party in the fight. Roasted! eaten! and their 
 smaller bones worked into needles and fish-hooks. 
 
 Some poor poet, finding himself going to the wall with 
 all his tribe in one of their conflicts, sings thus : 
 
 105
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Overcome and exhausted, 
 I am in spirit, dead. 
 Oh, that the war girdle 
 Might expand itself 
 And flaunt itself, 
 For me. Yes, for me. 
 
 I cry trembling, 
 I wail, oh, me! 
 And my calamity on 
 The mountain of life 
 In the midst of power 
 Of bitterest foes. 
 
 Tu, come near to Maru, 
 And Maru come near 
 To Kongo, and you, 
 O Kongo, come near to me, 
 Come near to my calamity. 
 
 The reader will be interested in some of the stories and 
 legends they used to tell each other when sitting around 
 their fires. Some of them were of things above, like a few 
 of those of their religious beliefs already narrated in the 
 earlier part of the book, and some of them may be classed 
 with our own fairy tales. 
 
 Ta-ne and Rangi, his father, dwelt in the upper worlds 
 with their spirit hosts. Of these hosts some of the leading 
 spirits persisted in trying to draw many of the others into 
 rebellion. Orders were therefore given to expel them, and 
 
 106
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Ta-ne, who had the power to do so, cast them out, and they 
 fell down from the first heaven. 
 
 When they had fallen to the earth they set about securing 
 the destruction of those creatures Ta-ne had made and 
 placed upon the earth, and thus be avenged for their having 
 been cast out of heaven. 
 
 There was a second and also a third rebellion in heaven, 
 in which thousands were killed, that is, so far as it is 
 possible to kill spirits. Ta-ne was determined to kill all, 
 but the god Raki proposed that the universe should be 
 divided and that the heavens should be altogether separated 
 from the earth, so that these spirits might become human 
 by assuming bodies. To this Ta-ne would not agree. 
 Because of this, these spirits were doomed to stay in 
 darkness. 
 
 This was the result of their rebellion. These rebels were 
 driven from the upper heavens, and their unalterable fate 
 was to live in doubt in this world and in the world of dark- 
 ness beyond this world. 
 
 Some of the priests say it was Tu and Rongo who first 
 made war and killed men, but the beings killed were not 
 like men as they are now. They were gods. 
 
 Rau-riki was the first to kill man in this world. He 
 killed Hotua, because of jealousy. The females loved 
 
 107
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Hotua and praised him for his nobility and beauty. When 
 the news of his death reached his relatives they sought 
 satisfaction. 
 
 They dipped the forefinger of their left hands in 
 the blood of Hotua, and held their hands up towards heaven, 
 and then they pointed downwards. This they did many 
 times, all the while repeating their incantations and naming 
 each god in heaven and all the names of heroes above and 
 below. Then they repeated the incantations of " Life and 
 the origin of all things " : 
 
 Peal thou thunder in the sky 
 That I may hear thy booming, 
 Like to that of rushing tide, 
 Cast down the prop of life 
 That gods above and gods below 
 
 May hear the words of Apa-Kuru. 
 
 i 
 
 Now she utters words of dread, 
 
 Of lonely desolation; 
 
 And laughs the laugh of madness, 
 
 To her own kindred blood, 
 
 And begs for retribution 
 
 For the death of Whaka-rara. 
 
 His sister wails in agony 
 Of woe upon the ocean shore- 
 She calls the sacred hills 
 To smile the soul of him 
 Who did the murderous deed. 
 Now to her aid comes Nuku. 
 
 108
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 As darts the flash of keen 
 Revenge from out the 
 Eye of endless spite, 
 The hosts of Kewa come, 
 Assembled in the clan of 
 Those who would 
 Her cause espouse. 
 
 This was all done when the army went to avenge the 
 death of Hotu-a. When the fight was over, the victors 
 took the first prisoner captured, and, after killing him, 
 presented his heart to the high priest. This he cooked and 
 ate. They then killed all the other prisoners, carefully 
 saving all the blood, which they offered in sacrifice to the 
 gods. Then the bodies of all the slain were cut up and 
 cooked and eaten by the army. 
 
 This was the origin of cannibalism in this world, and the 
 practice has been continued down to the present time. 
 
 After Ta-ne had arranged the stars, and made his father, 
 Rangi (heaven) beautiful, and formulated the laws of taboo, 
 he visited the earth and then returned to the heavens above. 
 
 After his departure the spirits of the lower worlds sought 
 to be avenged on Ta-ne for the part he had taken in driving 
 them out of heaven. 
 
 They first caused evil amongst the fish of the sea, and 
 multitudes of them were destroyed. 
 
 109
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 They then caused evil amongst the birds of the air, and 
 great flocks of them perished. And when men were mul- 
 tiplied they caused evil amongst them. 
 
 THE STORY OF EATA. 
 
 When Rata's father was killed, he determined to avenge 
 his father's death. For this purpose he went into the forest 
 and having selected a tall, straight tree he felled it and cut 
 off its beautiful top, intending to fashion it into a canoe on 
 the morrow. 
 
 When the insects who inhabit trees and all the spirits 
 of the forest learned what Rata had done, they assembled 
 during the night and, while singing aloud their incanta- 
 tions, put the tree back into its place with every chip and 
 shaving and branch, just where they were before. 
 
 This is what they sang, with the confused noise of various 
 voices : 
 
 Fly together, chips and shavings, 
 Stick ye now all fast together, 
 Hold ye firm and fast together. 
 Stand thou again, O tree, upright: 
 Be our monarch of the forest. 
 
 Early the next morning back came Rata to hew the tree 
 into shape for his canoe, when lo ! where is the tree ? 
 
 If that tall, straight tree standing there is not the one 
 he felled, then his eyes greatly deceived him. 
 
 110
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 However, Eata thought it was useless to waste time won- 
 dering, so he at it and felled it again. 
 
 When he went to his home at nightfall the insects and 
 fairies and imps of the forest returned and set it up again. 
 
 When he returned the second day, lo ! there was the tree 
 erect. 
 
 Nothing daunted, he felled the tree once more, and then 
 started off as if going home, but when he had gone a little 
 way he hid himself in some thicjc scrub. 
 
 He very scon saw an innumerable multitude of the spirits 
 of the forest approaching the tree, singing their incanta- 
 tions as they came along. 
 
 When they had arrived at the fallen tree and were about 
 to raise it again, Eata rushed out upon them, saying, " Ha ! 
 ha! then it is you, is it, who have been exercising your 
 magical arts upon my tree ?" 
 
 Then they all cried out, "Who gave you authority to 
 fell our forest god to the ground ? You had no right to do 
 so." 
 
 Bata was very much ashamed and quite sorry for what 
 he had done. 
 
 They said, " Return, Rata, to your home. We will make 
 a canoe for you." 
 
 They were so numerous and so familiar with the forest 
 
 8 111
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 that they were not long in making a canoe for Rata capable 
 of carrying 140 men, all warriors, who embarked with 
 Rata to seek his father's bones. 
 
 One night, a week or so later, they reached the fortress 
 of their enemies. Rata alone landed, leaving all his war- 
 riors on board. 
 
 As he stole along the shore he saw a fire burning on the 
 sacred place, and some priests near the fire performing 
 their incantations. 
 
 There he saw them making use of the bones of his father, 
 beating them together to keep time while they were repeat- 
 ing their incantations, known only to themselves. 
 
 Rata listened attentively until he had learned this incan- 
 tation by heart. 
 
 When he was quite sure that he knew it, he rushed in 
 suddenly upon the priests and killed them and secured his 
 father's bones, and fled to his canoe and, with his warriors, 
 set out for home. 
 
 It was not until the morning that the tribe discovered 
 what had been done and who had done it. 
 
 Without delay they raised an army and pursued. This 
 army consisted of a thousand fierce warriors. 
 
 In the battle which ensued Rata was worsted and sixty 
 of his followers were slain. 
 
 112
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 At this moment Rata remembered the powerful incanta- 
 tion he had learned of the priests. He repeated it, and 
 immediately his dead soldiers were restored to life. Then 
 they returned to the fight, fiercer than before, and their 
 enemies were slain. The whole thousand were killed and 
 so Rata was counted in those days as a mighty warrior. 
 
 Rata's task of avenging his father being now ended, his 
 tribe drew their great canoe up on the shore and thatched it 
 over to protect it from the sun. 
 
 THE LEGEND OF WHAZATAU. 
 
 Whakatau was a grandson of Rata. He was brought 
 into existence in a very strange manner. 
 
 His mother, if such she could be called, was one day 
 walking along the seashore when she took off her apron, and 
 rolling it up, threw it into the sea. A god seized it and 
 shaped it, and breathed upon it, and it became a living 
 being, and its ancestors taught him magic and all sorts of 
 curious things. When he was little, his favorite amusement 
 was flying kites. 
 
 What was most strange to mortal men was that while 
 they could see kites flying about, they could see no one 
 attending them, for Whakatau was running about on the 
 
 113
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 bottom of the sea, holding the end of the string in his 
 hand. 
 
 One day he stole up out of the water by degrees till his 
 whole body was plainly visible on the shore. 
 
 All the people ran to seize him, but he slipped back into 
 the water and went on flying his kites as before. 
 
 The people who saw him were surprised at the strange 
 sight, and they determined to seize him, if possible. So 
 they sat on the shore and watched for him. 
 
 When he came up out of the water and stepped on shore 
 again they all ran at full speed to catch him. When he 
 saw them coming he cried out, "You had better go and 
 bring Apakura here; she is the only one who can catch 
 me and hold me fast." They ran to fetch Apakura. 
 When she saw him she said, " Here I am : I am Apakura." 
 Then he stopped running and she caught him, and asked 
 him, "Whom do you belong to?" 
 
 He said, " I am your child ! You one day threw your 
 apron into the sea, and a god, my ancestor, seized it and 
 from it made me, and I grew up, and they called me 
 Whakatau." 
 
 Then he left the water and resided on the land, but his 
 principal amusement, as long as he was a lad, was flying 
 kites. 
 
 114
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 But he understood magic well, and nothing was hid from 
 him, and when he grew up to be a man he became a re- 
 nowned hero. 
 
 The following song was often sung in honor of one of 
 their great warriors : 
 
 I thought, O Kana! If 
 I kept the secret still 
 Untold, unknown and hid, 
 'Twas dread and fear 
 Of the still awful doom 
 Of song and war 
 That ruled thy every act. 
 
 But thou, O Wera, 
 Hast the red and 
 Sacred plume, that binds, 
 Commands, and keeps 
 In power, and saves 
 From death thy 
 Warrior host. 
 
 Here is a very ancient lament sung in chorus by the 
 whole tribe over their illustrious dead : 
 
 The small stars now 
 Westward troop in majesty. 
 The satellites of Mars 
 Go on In drowsy mood 
 The path they ever went, 
 But what may it avail? 
 
 Since he, Wari-a-hau, 
 Rushed reckless to the 
 Battle front; nor heeded 
 
 115
 
 MAOEIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 That the great, the people's, 
 Power, the guardian and 
 Protector of our hosts 
 Had succumbed to death. 
 
 No aid had he to grapple 
 With the unrelenting god 
 Of war. Nor were there then 
 Bright rays of light 
 Seen on the peak of 
 The hill Wai-tawa, where 
 All the mighty men 
 
 Lie with Rangi-te-amo 
 There. But seek our guardian 
 Power and rouse It 
 At once to act anew 
 Before our great canoe Is 
 Overturned and all is lost. 
 
 I'll deck me with the plume 
 Of the white crane as the 
 Gentle breeze from off the sea 
 Wafts to our shore the totara. 
 Of prized young chiefs. 
 
 Oh, gently blow, ye breezes 
 Of the land and rouse 
 To deeds of daring all 
 The active souls of men. 
 I dreamt, and in my dreams, 
 I felt the chill of snow 
 Grate through my frame, 
 Which trembled with the chill. 
 
 116
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 As in the night's ill omen, 
 Those Tamarte-a nights of 
 Dread, the signs of which 
 Are seen high up above and 
 In the midnight clouds. 
 
 O, my beloved! couldst 
 Thou once again arise 
 And in the day-dawn speak, 
 Thou wouldst the incantation 
 Chant of A-wartea~aroa, 
 And tell the power by 
 Which thine ancestors learned 
 The path to come across 
 The ocean road to 
 This our far-off home. 
 
 These cannibal people were not only capable poets, as I 
 have pretty fully shown, but they were also a musical 
 people, vocal and instrumental. Their instruments were 
 mostly trumpets, flutes and whistles. They had a few that 
 were not wind instruments, and they were continually try- 
 ing to invent others. Their attempts in this direction 
 were like what the ancient Greek used to relate of Apollo 
 himself, in the construction of his first lyre or harp, employ- 
 ing a cast-away shell with a few strings stretched across it. 
 
 Their trumpets were made of wood or shell. Those of 
 shell were usually made by using the Triton or conch shell. 
 Its apex was neatly cut off, and a mouthpiece of hard wood, 
 
 117
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 suitably hollowed and carved, was ingeniously put in and 
 very firmly fixed. 
 
 The old Maoris seem to have had a curious plan for 
 increasing or altering the power of sound of their conch- 
 shell instrument. A thin piece of dark, hard wood of a 
 broadly elliptic form, and measuring about three by five 
 inches, was most dexterously fitted in to fill up a hole in 
 the upper part of the body or large whorl of the shell. 
 This piece of wood was also carved and ribbed or scraped 
 to resemble and closely match the transverse ridges of the 
 shell. 
 
 There was only one kind of wood of sufficiently sonorous 
 quality to suit their taste for this purpose. Of this wood 
 also they made their best loud-sounding drums and gongs. 
 From this same wood they dressed down and polished sticks 
 about three feet long and of the thickness of small walking- 
 sticks. Two persons, standing about four feet apart, each 
 holding one of these prepared rods, would throw them 
 toward each other with such dexterity as to make them 
 strike each other at just such distances from the ends as 
 that they might produce just the sound necessary to suit 
 the note required of the song they were singing. 
 
 Their wooden trumpets were also very curious and 
 
 118
 
 MAORI WOOD CARVINV,
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 ingenious. They were made of pieces of hard wood, scraped 
 and hollowed and jointed, and very compactly put together. 
 The work was so well done that it was almost impossible to 
 discover the joinings. 
 
 Some of the long trumpets had a large hole in the middle 
 of the instrument from whence the sound issued, and which 
 was there modified by the hand. 
 
 Others of their trumpets, about four feet in length, had a 
 central piece, or diaphragm, set back twelve or fourteen 
 inches from its mouth. The sound of this instrument was 
 emitted from the large aperture at the big dilated end. 
 By the different sounds of these instruments the several 
 chiefs in travelling were known. 
 
 These loud-sounding trumpets were often used as speak- 
 ing trumpets when giving words of command or other 
 important words to persons at a distance. 
 
 The flute was made of wood or of bone. Those of the 
 latter were of human bone. They were generally six or 
 eight inches long and open at both ends. They had four 
 holes, three on one side and one on the other. 
 
 The wooden ones were ornamented with a great amount of 
 carving and inlaying, each being an example of skill, indus- 
 try and patience. 
 
 119
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 On these flutes the old Maoris were able to play simple 
 Maori tunes and airs. 
 
 The whistles were made of hard wood, scraped, polished, 
 and profusely carved, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl. 
 They were worn by the chiefs, usually hung to their necks. 
 
 Ability such as many of them manifested could only have 
 been attained through long and persevering practice, 
 indicative of both a good musical ear and love for music. 
 
 It was surprising to hear these people from most patient 
 perseverance extract even only a short series of pleasing 
 notes from such instruments. 
 
 Ever since the advent of the white man, the Maoris have 
 taken a great interest in jews-harps. 
 
 Sometimes they will try a score or more before they can 
 find one soft enough in tone to suit their fancy. They will 
 spend hours and invent all sorts of plans to alter the tone 
 where it is harsh. 
 
 They will, for this purpose, fix about the tongue a small 
 bit of sealing-wax or gum. One writer says, " I have known 
 a Maori to beg for an old dessert knife worn out to the thin 
 remnant of a blade that he might make with it a small 
 instrument resembling a jews-harp, its sound being so much 
 sweeter than any he could buy." 
 
 120
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Much of their carving, especially on the prows of their 
 canoes and on the fronts of their dwellings, was most 
 exquisitely artistic as the reader will see by turning to 
 the illustrations given. 
 
 Their tattooing was always apparently a thorough work 
 of art. No one was considered really handsome without it. 
 
 Well-tattooed heads were mostly always preserved and 
 kept in the home so that the deceased relative might still 
 be counted one of the family. 
 
 When white men came in touch with these people, finding 
 that a well-tattooed head could be sold for a good price to 
 the museums and curio hunters in England, a trade for 
 heads sprang up which was very discreditable to the more 
 enlightened race. 
 
 The first head made an article of commerce was taken 
 to Sydney, New South Wales, in 1811. 
 
 A sailor who had been fishing for some months for 
 seals, stole it from a native house. 
 
 As soon as the theft was discovered, there was great 
 excitement among the people. 
 
 Fortunately for him and his companions the wind was 
 blowing off shore, and weighing anchor they quickly 
 got away. He realized a good price for the head, but it cost 
 him his life when he returned to New Zealand. 
 
 121
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 In England a well-preserved head with very artistic 
 tattooing would bring almost any price demanded. 
 
 To such depth of wickedness was the trade at length 
 carried that thousands of slaves were purposely killed that 
 their heads might be sold. 
 
 It became unsafe for anyone to be handsomely tattooed 
 unless he was a chief. 
 
 An English captain having his vessel loaded with Kauri 
 gum or flax would be offered a head by the chief whose men 
 were carrying cargo aboard. 
 
 The captain might refuse because it was not as good a 
 specimen as he wanted. He would point to one of the men 
 whose tattooing he admired and say that if he could get 
 one like that he would give a good price for it. 
 
 When he would return a year later with his ship for 
 another cargo, that poor fellow's head would be ready for 
 him. It very often happened that a powerful chief had 
 his slaves all handsomely tattooed that he might kill them 
 and sell their heads for a big price. 
 
 One slave who had been tattooed at much expense and 
 weeks of time was dishonest enough to run away with his 
 own head, though the chief might have maintained in an 
 old Maori court that it wasn't his own head. 
 
 All we can say is that at least it was a " capital " offence. 
 
 122
 
 o 
 
 fc 
 
 . 
 
 J 
 
 4 
 W
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Head for head, all that a man hath will he give for his 
 head. This poor fellow had nothing but " leg bail/' so he 
 gave that. 
 
 In 1831 a captain of a schooner purchased fifteen heads. 
 When a company of natives came aboard, the captain, being 
 under the influence of liquor, brought the sack and emptied 
 them on the deck before his visitors. They were horrified 
 to see among them the heads of some of their own relatives. 
 He succeeded by a favorable wind in getting away, but he 
 was fired on by the natives when he returned later. His act 
 resulted in the total prohibition of the traffic. 
 
 Governor Darling, of New South Wales, issued a pro- 
 clamation which put a stop forever to this iniquitous traffic. 
 
 One of the oldest warriors now living says that through 
 their continued fighting the Taranaki district was left with- 
 out any adult male native. 
 
 Some time after that, all began to feel tired of war, and 
 from both sides warriors from two large warlike tribes 
 met and agreed there should be no more war between them. 
 A gun was buried as a sign that they would fight no more. 
 
 " Then," says the old warrior, " the gospel came. Since 
 that I and all my people " (of that tribe) " have all accepted 
 the Word of God. When I heard of the rising of some of 
 the people for war, I took the Word of God to the Waikato 
 
 128
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 party, and also to their opponents. Eighty of us went. 
 We spoke to the Waikato people and they agreed that there 
 should be no more war. Then they all began to believe in 
 God. When we came again to Waikato, Christianity had 
 greatly spread." 
 
 As I have given an extract of a portion of a native song 
 in their own tongue, it may please the reader to see the 
 Lord's Prayer in Maori: 
 
 Te Inoi a te Ariki E to matou matua i te rang! kai tapu 
 tou Ingoa. Kai mai tou Ranga tiratanga. 
 
 Kia meatia tou epaiia ki runga Kite whenua. Kia rite ana 
 kilo te rangi. Homai kia matou aranei he taro ma matou mo 
 tenei ra. 
 
 Murua O matou hara me matou hoki a muru nei i ote 
 hungae hara ana kia a matou. Ana hoke matou e kaiwea kia 
 whakawaia engara whakarangia matou te kino. 
 
 Mau hoki te rangatiratanga, te kaha me te kororia. 
 Ake, Ake, Ake, Amine. 
 
 Te inoi a te Ariki. 
 
 The prayer of the Lord. 
 
 E to matou matua i te rangi, 
 
 O our Father in the heaven 
 
 kai tapu tou Ingoa, kai mai tou 
 
 let be sacred thy name, let come thy 
 
 Ranga tiratanga 
 
 Kingdom (chieftainship), 
 
 kia metia tou epaiai ki runga 
 
 let be done thy will on to 
 
 kite whenua. Kia rite ana kito 
 
 124
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 the earth, let it accord with 
 
 te rang!. 
 
 that in heaven. 
 
 Homai kia matou aranai he taro 
 
 Give to us now some bread 
 
 ma matou mo tenei ra. 
 
 for us for this day. 
 
 Murua O matou hara me matou 
 
 Blot out our sins as we 
 
 hoki e muru nei i ote 
 
 also blot out those of the 
 
 hungae hara, ana kai a matou, 
 
 people who sin against us. 
 
 Ana hoke ma tou e kaiwea 
 
 Not also us take 
 
 kia whakawala, engri whakarangia 
 
 to be tempted, but deliver 
 
 matou te kino, 
 
 us from the evil. 
 
 Nau hoki te rangatiratanga 
 
 Thine also the kingdom, 
 
 te kaha me to kororla, 
 
 the power and the glory, 
 
 Ake, ake, ake, Amlne. 
 
 Ever, ever, ever, Amen. 
 
 If these pagan people saw some things which the white 
 people had brought to them that were good, they saw also 
 that some of the white man's customs were bad. 
 
 They saw from the very beginning the evil effects of 
 intoxicating liquors. 
 
 125
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 They resolved that, at a very early period in their more 
 civilized condition, this evil should not continue among 
 them. 
 
 Their first prohibitory law dates as far back as 1835. 
 
 Moetara, a native chief, was at the head of this move- 
 ment. 
 
 About 500 Maoris were present when resolutions were 
 passed, through the assistance of a few English-speaking 
 residents, that the sale of intoxicants should be abolished. 
 
 It was decided that there should be a fine of 25 each 
 put upon vendor and purchaser. 
 
 A deputation was sent to a vessel loading for Australia, 
 and the rum cask in her hold was demanded. 
 
 So much harm had been done that the people were 
 determined. When the captain saw that the demand was 
 backed up by 500 natives, he hoisted the cask on deck, the 
 bung was drawn, and the Maoris turned the grog into the 
 sea. 
 
 The poor captain said, "Things have come to a pretty 
 pass when we have to go to sea without our supply of 
 grog." 
 
 No opposition came from the blacks. They were all 
 against the use of that which produced such effects upon 
 men. 
 
 126
 
 MOHTARA
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 Their very strongest objection to the introduction of 
 Christianity was on this ground. 
 
 They saw among those who were taking possession of 
 their lands, and among the sailors, men who claimed to 
 have a better religion and a better civilization than their 
 own behaving worse than demons and besotting them- 
 selves worse than brutes, and some of them could not dis- 
 associate their boasted religion and civilization from the 
 doings of the drinkers of rum. 
 
 Opposition to the prohibitory movement came from white 
 men. 
 
 A few of these, knowing that the missionary had encour- 
 aged the movement, gathered around the mission house and 
 drank their rum and flourished their rum bottles. 
 
 One of these in their drunken row received a blow on the 
 head from one of his drunken companions, which caused 
 his death a few hours later. 
 
 He was a general dealer, and a man of mark among his 
 fellows. 
 
 He sent for the missionary and expressed his sorrow 
 for his opposition to him and to the chiefs. 
 
 He ordered all his rum casks up from the cellar and 
 had them emptied upon the ground before the eyes of his 
 wicked associates. 
 
 127
 
 I 
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 From that day until now prohibition has prevailed in the 
 whole of the " King Country," that is, that part of New 
 Zealand exclusively occupied by the Maori people. 
 
 Thanks to the noble example set by these native people, 
 New Zealand makes more persistent progress towards 
 the total annihilation of this infamous traffic than any 
 other of the British Colonies. 
 
 The self-sacrificing zeal of the Christian people of that 
 beautiful colony is worthy of all praise. 
 
 That white-skinned civilized men should cling to this 
 traffic with all its hellish nature and history is one of those 
 mysteries most difficult of solution. 
 
 The beverage use of an intoxicant is contrary to the laws 
 of nature and to the declared will and mind of God. 
 
 Its continued hold upon humanity is one of the strongest 
 evidences of the existence and activity of Satan with legions 
 of demons under his control whose chiefest business is to 
 destroy men ; and never in all the history of invention for 
 human ruin has any other thing been devised of greater 
 potency for the accomplishment of its purpose. 
 
 I have given in preceding pages illustrations of Maori 
 poetry. I think the reader will be glad to have here a poem 
 by a New Zealander, though not a native. 
 
 Perhaps the reader will have more sympathy with these 
 
 128
 
 MAORIS OF NEW ZEALAND 
 
 r 
 
 lines if I inform him that the gifted author of these very 
 forcible and touching sentiments was a sufferer from the 
 drink habit. 
 
 Even after composing this poem he was still a slave 
 to rum. I hope, if he still lives, he has become free, for oh, 
 what a slavery it is! 
 
 THE VILEST FIEND OF ALL. 
 
 False demon, take thy fiendish shape; 
 
 Thy name Is demon and not wine. 
 Durst thou cling to the purple grape? 
 
 Durst thou take shelter 'neath the vine? 
 Nay, cling unto thy patron Death 
 
 And hide thee 'neath his blackest pall. 
 Throughout creation's length and breath 
 
 Thou art the vilest fiend of all. 
 
 Whet are thy crimes? Go ask the grave 
 
 That yawning waits the lifeless clod, 
 Thy murdered serf, thy poisoned slave: 
 
 A type once of the living God. 
 The shrieks within the maniac's cell, 
 
 The chain-clanks round the prison wall, 
 The wails and groans of millions tell 
 
 Thou art the vilest fiend of all. 
 
 What are thy crimes? Yon soulless thing 
 
 Was once God's image, pure and fair. 
 Tea, fiend, as witnesses, I bring 
 Lust, hatred, murder and despair 
 
 129
 
 To prove thy guilt. The fiercest flame 
 That burns below where sinners fall 
 
 Is fed by thee. Remorse and shame 
 Proclaim thee vilest fiend of all. 
 
 What are thy crimes ? Thy counsel's plea 
 
 Is this: Thou'rt good and we should prize 
 Heaven's gifts; but I do view in thee 
 
 A cruel devil in disguise; 
 Before thee, peace and comfort fly, 
 
 Replaced by senseless feud and brawl; 
 Near thee, truth, love and honor die: 
 
 Thou art the vilest fiend of all. 
 
 130
 
 DU 423. L962M