OLD MAORI SEPULCHRE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 132, 4 June 1907, Page 5

OLD MAORI SEPULCHRE.

THE CAVES AT MAIJNGAEIEKIE.

AN- INTERESTING EXPLORATION,

Of the thousands who. visit One Tree Hill Domain and Cornwall; Park each, year, probably few know that underneath."the, green-flats surrounding- the old Maori stronghold, there exist caves of considerable extent; That such was the case, has, however, been known to a few, but so far little has been made public regarding' them. In the old days, when. Maungakiekie was the main fortress oft'the great chief Kiwi'Tamaki, it carried a garrison of some thousands of dusky, warriors, which explains the fact that in. one cave are to be seea immense deposits of human bones, sex evidence that this was the place of sepulchre for, at all events, the commoner people. Recent Toad formation works at the topi of the hill disclosed the skeleton of what must have been a chief of considerable rank. The remains were found in a sitting position quite close to the trig station. It is reasonable to suppose that this burial dates back a very long wa y—before Maungakiekie was converted into the main pa of the isthmus, because it was not the Maori custom to "inter their dead withia a fortress, as it- rendered the place tapu. Early in the 18th century Kiwi Tamaki was in the plenitude, of his power, and at that time the' groat earthworks had of course been constructed. Later on this chief made the fatal mistake of transgressing the law of hospitality by slaughtering 200 of his hosts when, attending a tangi of the Ngatiwhatua, and, as usual, the error of the ruler brought disaster on his people, for-, Te Wahoakuaki, with the northern- tribes, took a terrible vengeance about two.years later, slaying Kiwi Tamaki at Big Muddy Creek in a great battle, and, marching on to Maungakiekie ultimately took the hitherto impregnable pa. It was not until 50 years later, when Hongi and his Ngapuhis, armed with modern weapons tamed from the pakeha, swept the isthmsu, that Maungakiekie was again taken, and Te Tuperiri and his people practically exterminated. Since then the central pa of "Tamaki of a hundred lovers" has not been occupied as a fort. This brief history of the terrible fights that have taken place around One Tree Hill was necessary as a probable explanation of the mass of decomposed bones to be seen in one of the caves. Owing to tho. kindness of. the chairman of the One Tree. Hill Domain Board, Mr. C. Baglejv several gentlemen were afforded an opportunity yesterday afternoon of -"visiting two of the caves, one of which was a veritable catacomb as far as deposits of human bones were concerned; Sir John Logan Campbell, whose keen interest in anything conr nected with Cornwall IVrfc or One Tree Hill Domain, is well known, drove out, but the descent, by means of ladders into the caves, was a task not to be thought of- by a gentleman verging on 90 years of age; consequently he was reluctantly compelled to remain on the surface.; "With Sir John were Mi*. T. Clieeseman (curator of the Auckland Museum) and Mr. Wynyard. The first cave visited was not far from the Onehunga boundary of the Domain, and quite close to the golf links. Here Mr. Bagley received the visitors, Mr. Stewart (caretaker) having previously placed several ladders in the combined length of which was 48ft. The entry to the eavo is a small circular opening, just large enough to allow of a man's body passing through, but with not sufficient space to permit of this being done in comfort, as the visitors had to wriggle between tb/>. rocks. This entrance to! the cave presents all the appearance of a volcanic vent, or fsitria-role. Once through the opening, t;«. visitor finds himself in a dome-like cave, about 40ft. by 25ft. with a height in the centre of fully 20ft. In fact the place is really a cupola, w#h wonderfully even sides, and viewed from below the aperture in the . roof looks just like a chimney. This is the first" cave, and walking along to one side, the visitors found their way by means of another ladder to the cavern below, which is not so regular in shape as the upper one, being longer and .narrower. Here it is that the "deposit of bones exists. The quantity it is impossible to estimate, as rubbish i lias fallen; from the roof in places and covered -up the heaps near the entrance to the lower chamber. Apparently the process adopted was to lower the bones te the first floor, and then tumble them down to the lower cave, as it can be seen that the whole deposit is pvramidieal in< shape, the apex being under the hole by which the visitors descended to the second floor. One thing was quite evident, namely, that tons upon tons of bones must have been thrown down to consolidate into a heap, at one point, foun feet in depth, of fairly solid decomposed human debris. Amongst these could be seen evidence that the old-time Maori had no need for dentists, for the odd teeth found were all in good order. Unfortunately the bones irave laid in their present position such; a long time that they have, in most cases, softened and settled into a mass presenting the appearance, when disturbed, of solid white earth. It would be interesting to have the overburden of rubbish cleared away, and this heap of bones thoroughly examined, as it is quite posible that some Maori curios may have been thrown down with Borne of the dead. On the other hand, this might prove to be merely the place of bunal for the remains of. slaves, and if such was the case, nothing of interest might be unearthed. The fact that other eaves are known to exist makes it reasonable to suppose there may yet be hidden caverns used as sepulchres which have not teen discovered. After spending considerable time in examining the bones, the visitors went along to the end of the second floor, and there saw a most peculiar formation. r,r,rfi OC ?\ P - r v Sented the appearance of n™i P et »fied. In the centre is a circular openmg, about two and a-half feet across, and this leads to a third cave ™iJT ln which > however, the only bones discovered was the skeleton dropped through the aperature on the in r A f Wandered to the cave of tn?A CanS ° f °g ress - The floor Sd.- E^ t3 <# Petrified . . ~fs vlieeseman expressed the thick p the u PP er °»c.is notary visSs £ Uming t0 the •"rfaee. the Cornwall Park C ° ndUCted to a P art of

access, a l^ eca y •«£ ing through a '■^ ,tter of be of fair extent, wSK* ST* to! but one end. The along a gallery o f some lS X^ some brown, stalactites, * great length. fto.brig+gSi&gfi cave, and altogether interest to the first other dome-like out in the'vicinity;^HeS^T^rP^M ■ that other caves exploration, coupled :£&*£""* ** ture of money, to the slopes .of. and- bllJw 4^S en rounding Maungakiekie