THE TEKOTEKO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 217, 13 September 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TEKOTEKO.

BRIGHT HEAD OF BARNEY.

A TALE OF THE OLD BAYS.

(By J.C.)

The whaleship Old Salem, one of a hundred New England vessels fishing the South Seas for sperm, hove-to at'daylight one summer morning off the entrance to Porirua Bay. With nearly two thousand barrels of oil in his hold, the captain would soon be content to heave his brick tryworks overboard and clear his decks and set all sail for the voyage round the Horn to his home port. Meanwhile he wanted water, and he lowered three boats to tow a raft of casks in to a clear little stream, the Taupe. It comes down to the sea just where the seaside township of Plimmerton stands to-day.

She was a hard ship, that Yankee. Open mutiny perhaps was only averted by the polyglot character of the crew. There were New Englanders, State of Elaine Indians, Cape de Verde Islanders, English and Irish two or' three, South Sea Islanders, and negroes of various j shades. There was one man who stood out like a flaming torch against the background of dark colours and strange beards. He was a County Cork sailor bv the name of Barney Regan. Hia hair and his short, curly beard were the most fiery brand of red, and his temper was as fiery as the glowing nimbus that framed his face. Barney was forever in trouble. He was as smart aloft or in a boat as the best; of them, but he would not have been an Irishman had "he submitted tamely to the Old Salem's brand of discipline; and two years in that whaleship had brought him to the verge of murder. Barney rowed stroke in the second mate's boat that day, watering in Porirua Bay. He had n<3 intention of rowing stroke or any other oar when the time came to return to ithe ship. Maori Hospitality.

The Ngati-Toa tribesfolk of Taupo Pa crowded "about the sailors when they hauled in their boats, and there were the customary hospitable calls to food, for the Maori always assumes that Ms visitor is hungry. But the red Irishman was the most favoured guest of all. They followed him up the creek, they pressed baskets of pork and potatoes on him, they sat and watched him with many an exclamation of admiration. Men, women, and children, they could not 'take their eyes from the splendid pakeha whose hair shone like the sunAll primitive races admire the red man; the Maoris adore the vVhanau-a-Kangi, the ruddy children of the gods. When the casks were filled and the crews waited for high water Barney I contrived to dodge away behind the fenced houses that stood near the beach. '•"Now" said Barney to himself, "thß is m v ehanceJ 111 give them the slip for -ood now. To hell with the Old Salem!" Whistles and shouts- went unheeded,and one man short the crews moved off iith their raft. That night Barney was the lone pakeha on the Maori shore. Xow thought he, for a new life, free ?rom Xing mates and backbreaking labour. No more .hours upon hours oi towing dead whales, no more blubberflensmg, no more useless scrubbing of greasy decks. The people sat around and watched had he feasted in such, unstinted measure Thoughts of the evil salt K£e and biscuit in the old Salem gave the haangi-cooked fish and the young pork and the sweet kumara an added flavour.

"Why" said Barney, "this beats cockfighting! I do believe they'll, make a cMef of me yet." Taupo kainga was crowded with people for a ceremonial of the morrow, the opening knd freeing from tapu of a beautiful new carved house in the pali6aded village. (You can see the exact site of that great from yom-rail-way carriage at Plimmerton station to-day, if you know where to look) That ni*ht was the most festive and altogether delightful that the had ever known in his knockabout life. The poi-girls danced and sang before him; they chanted a waiata in praise of his beautiful hair. Pleasant company night-long set him in a kind of daze. It was a sailor's heaven. The Honour. Barney was alone when he awoke next the sailor in silence when he stepped out of the sleeping-house. ' One man advanced to meet Barney He was the tohunga, the pnest for the tapu-removal rite. Hβ came reciting a %» said Barney to himself, ''they must be going to make me a chief ngut The priest, unnoticed by Barney, made a sign to a warrior just behind the sailor. A tomahawk flashed in the airdown!—up and down again. Barney fell forward, his head half severed. Two more flashes and the warrior lifted high the bright cm lyheai A cry of wonder and awe burst from the V 7£ young tomahawk-man swiftly climbed to the roof of thV/wwe on He set the bleeding *«* the finial at the summit of th s iron* gable. It was the tekoteko of the new house. Barney was the ««J*jJJ5 appeased the gods and gave' and efficiency to the pnestly ce*smoa Barney's bright .head &***£ g eun, BarneVs blue eyes gazed nom high gable front. The priest chanted Ins privet and aU the people amen-like response at the enu. karakia:

Hara mai te t6kl, Haumi —e! Hui—e! Taiki —e I Just about'that to the all sail crowded on s *°fjesterly through Cook Strait before a-™ breeze"". Some of Barney a J*L mates were discussing him ana su* a bable fate. . '«4--h o m Maoris "I calc'late," said &ave scoffed Ginger Barney «j warrant if look crowd mow we'U find him Them and living like" a up in red-headed Irishmen always get i< the world." - -^—- — -—-^~-~