THE DECEASED KING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 227, 22 September 1894, Page 2

THE DECEASED KING.

GATHERING AT TAUPIRI.

A GREAT NATIV_ MEETING.

. IMPRESSIVE CEREMONIALS.

A .UNIQUE SIGHT.

(BY Or/E SPECIAL REPORTER.)

It may be—most probably it is—a fact thab the Kingite cause is waning greatly amongsb tho Waikato Maoris of late years ; but one thing seems certain—that ib will be revived considerably, if temporarily, by the great gathering of natives now assembled ab taupiri to take part in the last funeral rites over the body of their dead King* Tawhiao. Such a Maori meeting will never again be witnessed in New Zealand, for the time i B fast passing away when the Maoris will gather together in such numbers. Aboub the Only Occasions on which large assemblages of the native race may now be observed are at the obsequies of some great chief, such as tawhiao and Rewi. Of late, too, the cry of the Maori mourner has often been heard in the land, and the sad death-wail has ascended from many a Maori kainga over the remaina ot some grizzled old rangatira, such as the race will never produce again, for its destiny is changed. The present gathering at taupiri, on the Waikato River, is of much importance in more senses than one. It is nob merely a funeral " wake" to lament over a dead aboriginal potentate. It appears to bear a more significant aspecb, for ib has already helped to weld together hitherto esbranged factions of what is grandiloquently termed the Maori " kingdom," and it is a fact, I believe, that the new "king," young Mahuta, already has considerably more.staunch adherents than had Tawhiao, at the time of his death.

'fljfl. THE SCENE AT TAUPIRI. '"' Taupiri, where between three and four thousand Maoris, men, women and children, are now gathered together to mourn over Tawhiao's poor remains, is a little township on the eastern bank of tho Waikato River, a few miles north of Ngaruawahia and about seventy miles South of Auckland by railway, which passes through the village. Taupiri is a picturesque locality, the predominating features ot bhe landscape being the broad-bosomed Waikato, brimming over its low banks With the recent rains, and the forest-clad peak known as Taupiri Mountain, which rears its head just above the township close to tho bank of the river. The place is famed in Maori song and legend, and the peak has been for generations the chief burial place of the Waikato tribes. On the river-wards Blope of the email bare hill which juts out from the southern flank of Taupiri Mountain, is the burying-place. Here are interred the Bacred boneß of the great Potatau te Wherowhero, the first Maori king, who died Borne 37 years ago, and: which were hidden for a time in the recesses of Rangitobo mountain, in the Upper Waipa district. Here also lie the bones of Tv Tawhiao, the late King's eldest son, who died some years ago, and also those of one of Tawhiao's daughters. A little while ago the innumerable relics of dead Waikatos lying in the sacred ground —the watii tapu—were added to by the depositing.there of the bones of some fiftyfive deceased members of the bribe, removed from a burying ground lower down the river. "In death the tribe are one." Here also will be interred the body of Tawhiao, Potatau the Second. '

The present scene ah Taupiri is an extraordinarily animated one. At the least, there must be three thousand Maoris, belonging to upwards of thirty diflerent North Island tribes, camped on the banks of the Waikato, in, the immediate vicinity of the township. Numbers, too, are arriving every day, and by Monday, when the pakeha are invited to be present, the gathering will—for a Maori meeting—be of immense dimensions. In a large.field near the river there are encamped the whole of the natives, with Tawhiao's body in the midst of them. The Waikato natives made elaborate preparations for the reception of their native visitors. In the centre of the enclosure, there is a lofty flagstaff, some SO feet high, on which fly at half-mast, two striking flags. The uppermost of these is a historical banner. It is a long Streamer on which are painted a cross and other designs, and it is one of the original flags of the old Maori kingdom. It belonged to Te Wherowhero, and ib was flying at the battle of Rangiriri, in 1863, when that desperate action was fought in the Waikato War. The bullet-holes in the old flag are still visible. The second flag is the royal banner of King Tawhiao. A number of other large calico flags bearing various strange devices, one being the special flag of the new King Mahuta, flutter in the breeze from their poles, and give the scene a singular aspect. Two long nikau whares, open at the Bides, each about 100 yards in length, have been huilb for the natives' accommodation, and besides these area great number, of small whares and tents all round the enclosure, the centre of which is left open for the purposes of the meeting. At the time of writing (Friday) there must be considerably over four hundred tents pitched in tho enclosure. Immense quantities of food are on hand to 611 the three thousand Odd hungry and capacious mouths. ARRIVAL OF THE BODY. :' Tawhiao's corpse, from which the life departed nearly a month ago ab Parawera, is still above ground. The faithful adherents of the "Kingitanga" have reverently borne the remains of what was once a dusky monarch from Paraweri, near Kihikibi, through Cambridge to Maungakawa, thence to Tauwhare, and through Hamilton to Hukanui, and finally to Taupiri—a long and tedious journey, prolonged by tangis and the consumption of the funeral baked meats. The funeral cortege arrived at Taupiri at about three o'clock on Thursday afternoon, amidst ceremonies of a most impressive character. A description of the reception of the body by the Waikato natives ab Taupiri will be worthy of general interest, as in all probability this is the last occasion Which a tangi of such magnitude will ever occur. ' The two thousand or so Waikato natives assembled at Taupiri, received word On Thursday morning chat the Corpse of the late King, escorted by close on a thousand ; Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatiraukawa and Nga{tibaua, and others, was close at hand. The f large cortege, in fact, reached the outskirts f of the settlement about noon on Thursday, ' and halted aboub half-a-mile from the town- ■ ship, on tho main road, where they ' loft their horses and vehicles for the • time being and prepared for the m6ebi ing with the Waikatos with all „tho j old-time ceremonial. , Meanwhile the \ Waikatos, who had been rehearsing songs and dances of welcome and lamentation for several days previously, Btripped for the ceremony and got their guns ready—for without guns the function Would besadly incomplete, Some

THREE nUNDRED WAIKATOS, find stalwart fellows, drew up under their chiefs just inside their enclosurei the men tea Or twelve deep, ehtirely ■tripped, save,tor.asKawl, blanket or mat roand-their waisbe^ feathers in -hair and Ajini- ib hand, with their cartridge pouches strapped at their sides. Most of _■_

the guns were double-barrelled breechloaders, inoluding some fine rifles, and in addition many of the chiefs -, carried „the old - time greenstone meres, . Whalebone patus and taiohas, Major Te Wheoroy one of the leading chiefs of the Waikatos, brandished a splendid greenstone weapon; As -Major Kemp and the other visiting natives from the South, in company; with the Otaki Brass Band, landed from- the Auckland train and walked over to greet the mourning Maoris, the latter performed a dance of welcome, with a Bong especially composed for the occasion. . A WARLIKE PROCESSION. A cortege of Maorie from the Upper Waikato had by this time approached the township, and drew up some four hundred yards away from the camp, They, like the men in the camp, were seen tobe armed with rifles and fowling-pieces, and which were occasionally fired with heavy charges of powder. At the same time large quantities of dynamite were exploded on the top of the hill at tho burial place, with reports like the tiring of cannon, which woke the echoea for miles around. The Otaki Native Band marched out to take up their position ab the head of the procession of visitors', in front of the corpse. The signal being given, the eager Onlookers saw the singular procession Btart on the march into the camp. The sight was a most unique one. The cortege of Maniapotos and others comprised fully 900 Maoris* the men being in front in regular fighting costume, Btripped naked, excepb for a shawl or a sheeb round their loins, feathers in-their hair, and cartouche-boxes slung round their waists. As they advanced, firing their guns into the air at frequent intervals, the armed party were seen to number some 300 men, the rest of the party having their heads .and bodies profusely entwined with green leaves, as a sign of mourning, the rear of the procession thua presenting bhe sight of a moving "Foresb of Dunsinane." The cries of lamentation and the mournful notes of the " Dead March in Saul," played by the band as the procession moved slowly into the township, rendered the spectacle a most impressive one. Immediately behind the band came the coffin enclosing Tawhiao's body, borne by sixteen Maoris of Ngatimahutu, the late King's tribe. Beside his father's corpse walked Mahuta, an intelligent looking young man of about 28 years of age. Next came the armed men, in military airay, eighb deep, led on by Arakatare Rongowhitiao, a big and brawny Ngatiraukawa chief, attired only in a sheet and gesticulating with a whalebone mere. The hearse in which the.corpse had been conveyed (Tawhiao's buggy) was brought on ab the end of the procession. AN IMPOSING RECEPTION. As tho mournful - looking procession, every man and woman marching with head bowed down, reached the entrance to the native camp, the spectators uncovered their heads while the coffin passed by. The hundreds of Waikatos, eilenb as death, were massed some eighty yards inside the enclosure, the armed men in front, with their gunß ftb bhe "port," and the other male natives and the women, their heads and bodies covered with willowleaves, koromiko, or some other greenery in token of grief. As the coffin slowly entered the enclosure, the waiting party bowed down their heads to the ground three times, and at the same time the colours on the flagstaff were dipped. As the visitors came slowly On, crying in the peculiar Maori monotone of sorrow, the Waikatos slowly retired, and bowed down again when a few paces back, and then saluted the cortege with a volley of blank-cartridge from, their three .hundred grins. Then came the formal dance and song of welcome. Led by the fugleman in the front, the Waikatos roared oub with one voice a song of welcome and lamentation which could have, been heard far across the river, and kepb splendid time with their gutis,; by alternately; ? bending. < down until y the muzzles of their guns nearly touched the earth, holding their firearms near the breech, and then givibg a sudden spring upright with theW'giSWß held ab arm's i length above their heads. This was done in perfect time, and although nob a war-dance proper, it reminded some spectators Of fierce spectacles of thab kind in the earlier days. When the receiving party had slowly retired about fifty yards before the advancing procession, keeping up the song and salute as they went, about a hundred and fifty young men joined in the welcome with fern and nikau Ironds in their hands, keeping time with the armed party as they wenb through their dance like clockwork. A SONG OF WELCOME. The song which was chanted with extraordinary effect by hundreds of voices was a welcome specially composed and rehearsed for the occasion by the Waikato people. I give a free translation of it, but no English rendering can do justice to the inexpressibly peculiar effect of the words in the stentorian chant. The Welcome, which was given the name of ''Te Taniwha o to Rua" (likening Tawhia's departed spirit to a great taaiwha or an atua or god),' Was a9 follows :— "Ka hua au kite whatitiri c whakatupurtt nol Runga to rangi; , ' , , ,• .. Kaoro ko te unuhanga 0 te taniwha 1 terua; Aue I Aue! Attel Te mamas i an! Ka ngauo Mokaii, ka ngaue.Tam&ki; Ka ru te whenua; ;•' "' Ka mato te marama; Ka taka te whotu o to rangij Ka ara Waikato i te rua. ;• Aue I Aue! Aue I Au6! Taukiri el" Translated this chant is :— " I see the lightning in the sky Flashing and glistening; . It is the releasing of the spirit from the cave; Alas 1 Alas I Alas !My grief! From Mokau unto Tainaki The earthquake shakes the land; The moon has disappeared; The stars fall from the heaverts; It is Waikato arising from the depths. Alas! Alas! Alas! My grief I" THE VISITORS' REPLY. Both parties then advanced, each firing volleys as they Wenb, the men reloading their guns with fresh cartridges as fast as they could, until they approached the flagstaff in the centre of the enclosure. In the vicinity of the flagstaff were grouped about five hundred more men of the Waikatos proper, Who also went through the chant of welcome with a precision as remarkable as that of their armed friends. On the lefb hand were seated the Women, garlanded with greenery, and all keeping up a suppressed cry. Some of the women had only a blanket, shawl or mat round their waists, and with weeping willows and ferns wound round their bodies over the right shoulder. The visitors, on the conclusion of the song Of welcome, when the Waikato V soldiers " fell back on the main body, replied /with a Song of their oWn, raising a thundering chorus, which might have been heard for miles around, and with a simultaneous Stamp of hundreds Of feet on the ground which literally shook the earth. The men and women of both parties then edged back, and lefb an open space near the flagstaff for the coffin, which was borne up and deposited by its wearied bearers on a low stage erected for the purpose. A handsome oil painting of Tawhiao, presented by the Otaki natives-, was unveiled beside the coffin, and a hum of intense emotion wenb through the bowed natives as they saw it. Around and under the coffin were placed a number of beautiful and valuable native mats, also presented by the Otaki natives, the.presents including splendid specimens of koi-owai, kaitaka, whariki, and kaka and pigeonfeather mate. The coffin (lead shell within ' a wooden coffin) was a very heavy one, ] weighing three or four hundredweight. It . was at last at rest, after having been On j the road for two Weeks Per co; v "> " <:- - ; THE TANGL - ; . J : the general Mngi.'or-.'irne^i-^ov^iieij

corpse then began, the Waikatos for the first time having an opportunity of crying over their dead king. Men and- Women, young and old, joined in the tangi* And the wailing and peculiar monotonous hum of crying were kept up for sometime, all the, people being seated on the ground in the moßt mournful attitudes conceivable. The visitors all maintained a position some' 35 yards away from the coffin, around which the Waikato were weeping. Waikato formed a large semi-circle close under the colours fluttering in the breeze, with the armed men on the right and the women on the left. Suddenly the volume of the sound of wailing gave place to. another, as the women of Waikato lifted up their voices in a mournful song of their own, addressed to the spirit of Tawhiao, which was politically supposed to be climbing up towards the higher heavens: — •'-';-' "Ascend, ascend, oh spirit! , You have come to see your people, To see the people of the Waikato; Behold, they are gathered in your canoe, Assembled here are all the tribes.

At an interval in the formal, crying oyer Tawhiao, a grizzled old warrior, the veteran Whitiora te Kumete (of Ngatimahuta), Tawhko'i first cousin. Who was a leading general in the Waikato war of ; 1863-64, rose and welcomed the visiting tribes in a brief oration, punctuated by gesticulations with an ancient Maori weapon. . Tbtt formal salutation over, the whole of the Waikatoß again repeated with one^voice the stirring song '* Taniwha o te Rua, and performed another dance With their guns, each man brandishing his firearm right and loft, down to the ground and above his head, in faultless time, the whole Working like one machine. When they had finished, the visiting party fired several volleys of blank cartridge as a tribute to Tawhiao's memory. All this time puffs of smoke were seen, and reports like cannons were heard from the burying place on che hill, where natives were exploding dynamite all round the grave destined for Tawhiao. The rifle firing was succeeded by the singing of an old and well • known Maori stfng ot welcome, "Kumea te Waka" iDraw the Canoe*), in which the people were likened to a canoe brought to the Bhore, the refrain being " toia te waka kite urunga " (." bring the canoe to the resting-place"). The tangi Bhortly afterwards concluded for the day. The men who had been in the van of each party stripped for the occasion ran off to get their clothes, for they had been exposed to a cold wind for several hours, and the women set about preparing kai for their lords and masters. Hundreds of hangis, or Maori ovens, were soon in operation, and before long the whole camp were discussing their pork and^ potatoes, their eels and kumara and bread, with a relish. THE ASSEMBLED NATIVES. The Maoris gathered at Taupiri are about the finest seb of aboriginals thab will ever be gathered together in New Zealand, those from the interior being especially fine stalwart men. They are most orderly; in fact, they are far better behaved than the same number of average Europeans would be under similar circumstances. Nog a drunken man is to be seen, the native committee impose a fine of five shillings on any one found the worse of liquor. Further more, they have one or two hundred young men acting as native policemen, and one Of the rules of the gathering is thab any man or woman who is found to have a stray dog in the enclosure is to be fined or else go out and fetch in a load of firewood for the camp. There are close on thirty tribes represented at the meeting, the principal iwi being: Waikabo (with about a dozen sub-tribes, such as Ngabitipa, Ngatiteata, Ngatinaho), Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatiraukawa, Ngatimaru, Ngatihaua, Ngabimahuba, Ngaiberangi, Ngabipaoa, Ngatikahungunu, Ngatiawa, Whanganui, NgapUhi, Ngatitametera, Ngatiwhatua, and others. 'I The principal chiefs, and influential men present include the following : t Waikato: Major Te Wheoro, Henare Kaihau, Hori Kukutai, and Whitioro. 1 NgatifeaSiapoto: Taomui te Naunau, tawhana, Aporo te Taratutu (the hero of the raid on Mr Gorsb's printing office ab Te Awamubu prior to the Waikato War), Paku Kohatn, Hotutaua te Wetini, and Messrs John Hebtifc and John Ormsby. Ngaiberanga: Ngatai Taiaho, Hone Makaraoti, Te Waru, Rewi te Ngatai. Ngatiraukawa: Arakatare Rongowhitiao, I Te Rangi Tubua, Whiti Patato, Paora. I Ngatibuwharebba: Heuheu Tukinb. Ngatihaua; Taingakawa te Waharoa (the- Mabri Premier), Hote-Tamehana, Tutua te Ngakau and Mahuta and Te Wberowhero (Tawhiao's sons). Ngatipaoa : Taipari and Toborewa. Ngatimahuta (the bearers of the body): to te Ao, Te Uira, Ngakete\ Te Pubi, Tihirahi, Te Aka Wharakura. . THE FOOD SUPPLY. As may be imagined, the quantity of food required for such a large assemblage is enormous. The commissariat arrangements are under the care of Te Aka Wharakura, who is ah excellent providore, there must be a hundred tons of potatoes on the ground, in fact, the Maoris are even giving-their seed potatoes to the feast; and in addition there are scores of porkers dead and alive, some 20 tons of flour, bread, thousands of dried eels (one string of eels being aboub 100 yards long), inanga, or whitebait in abundance, kumara, dried shark, mussels, fish; etc. An idea of the food supply may be guaged from the fact that Ngatitipa and Ngatiteata, who, to{rether with Mr G, S. Graham, were the argest contributors, gave in all some £160 worth of kaikai, including seven tons of flour, one ton of sugar, 4J tons of mussels, 4 121b tins of tea, 20 pigs, half a ton of dried fish, 2 tons of kumaras, 3 tons potatoes, etc.' One individual native gave ten tons of flour. /The tangi will probably last until the food gives out.' ' THE BURIAL. It iB now said that Tawhiao's body will be buried next Wednesday, bub the truth is thab the exacb date has not yet been fixed. Native clergymen will conduct the funeral, and it is stated that the old chief's bones will be left to He permanently in the burial-groundk Some of the natives state i that the body will not be interred until it has been a month above ground—which • Would give Wednesday as the day. EUROPEANS INVITED ON MONDAY. In connection with the special train \ proposals for next' Monday, the natives are desirous that all the pakehas Who are coming to view the tangi should do so on Monday, as on that. I day they Will make special preparations for their European friends. Major te Wheoro ( and Henare Kaihau, the latter Of whom is a most obliging and courteous chief, are ' very desirous as well as their fellow-natives, ! to see the Europeans come on Monday. O n that day the dances and songs of Welcome j will be repeated in full costume, or rather j Undress, and hakas will be given for the benefit of visitors. The sight is a most interesting one, and to those who would like to get a glimpse at the fast-disappear- ' ihg customs of the Maori, no such chance will again present itself, .