Papers Past | Letters and Diaries | The Papers of Sir Donald McLean | Series 2 Inward letters (Maori) | 3 pages written 18 Jan 1848 by Hone Ropiha in Waiwakaiho to Sir Donald McLean, related to Taranaki...

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English

Maori

Waiwakaiho 18 January 1848 Go off there, this goodwill of mine, to McLean. Friend, Greetings to you. I have great affection for you, and it is not just for today. However, I have heard talk about you, I've heard that you are leaving us, and so I began to think about you, about our customs and yours, about how different they are, and that this may be the reason for your leaving us. However, it is your decision. But what is to become of your plans? I think to myself that a strange Pakeha may visit us, someone whose thinking [. . . insertion above line illegible] we will not understand, and he [would not understand] our custom whereby a child can be raised by a stranger when a parent dies. And it would not be right to be thinking of us [the Maori only] in relation to all of our customs, because of our feeling for you and [you] for us. But heed me, my regard for the Pakeha is such that it will never be denied. Friend, McLean, in the matter of the house, Takuta is arguing for the land beside Wiremu Paita's, between his and Wiremu Pita's. I am not inclined to agree with the widows in case I have to leave [land] that I like as part of the child's garden. Here the Pakeha is saying of his land that it be bought in the first year, four acres for £30. You are saying only one acre,

Waiwakaiho 18 Hanueri 1848 Haere atu ra, e tenei aroha oku, ki a Te Makarini E hoa, Tena ra koe. Ka nui toku aroha atu ki a koe; ehara inaianei te aroha. Otira kua rongo au ki tetahi whakaaro ki a koe. Kua rongo au e wehea ana koe i a matou, no konei ka rapurapu taku whakaaro ki a koe, ki to matou ture, ki to koutou, he mea awe to koutou ki to matou, he mea awe to matou ki to koutou, no konei au i whakaaro ai ka wehea koe i a matou. Otira kei a koe ano te whakaaro, e taea koa te aha i a koutou tikanga? Ka whakaaro au ka haere mai tetahi Pakeha ke ki a matou, e kore matou e mohio ki ana whakaaro [. . . insertion above line illegible], inahoki ta matou tikanga, ka mate te matua, ka waiho te tamaiti he tangata ke mana e atawhai. E kore e pai te maharatanga tenei ki a matou mo a tatou tikanga i te aroha ki a koutou, ki a matou. Whakarongo mai, ko toku aroha tenei ki nga Pakeha, e kore e whakakahoretia ake tonu atu. E hoa, e Te Makarini, ko te ritenga mo te whare, e tohe mai ana a Takuta ki te whenua i te taha o to Wiremu Paita, i waenganui o to raua whenua ko Wiremu Pita. Kahore au e whakaae, e mea ana naku ki nga pouaru kei mahue i ahau taku i pai ai, kei te kari ano o te tamaiti. Tenei ano te Pakeha e mea ana ki tona whenua kia utua i te tau kotahi, e wha nga eka, e toru tekau pauna. Ko tau i ki ai kia kotahi eka,

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