THE MAORI WHARE Stories of Tapu

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 28 (Supplement)

THE MAORI WHARE Stories of Tapu

By James Cowan

Tlir I \vr> s| lecimcns nf the Mnori w 11 M I" i • deputed jn tlx' phot ojjra ph* "ii 1 hi-' pa ye mi' \ery different from each hi lit"i". n 1141 reprer-ent t in' ancient sifut I lie modern ill their -t\|e 'I 1111 i li! i ii.j- ,iidl | hi' mil t eria 's n-i'il. Tin- tir»t. tin' sawn timber ' i ■ 1 11 ~ i • willi t ho | m r 11 y curved front, -landi- at M.i it >ii la hi.-torie place, in I i i! I M a ' "a In i i a 1 i a I . cli we to t lie ma in i '>.i.| t.. I a nil... Ma run is a mini'jliirj of M;i■ 11 i j,ml pnkcha in ' i i * i. 11 i" 11 a- well a- in i lie archittv i 'iri- lit tin- 11 i lui I meet illy In nine In tin' It'll bnckyi diiikl nre •»oine kalnk.ili'a "i- while pine tree*, rem Hi ill - nl' t he fore-I ; t he trees close behind I lie house are the fnrniliar Vmeriran pines. I .-hall ilet-erihe thilioiixe |ire-enllv. The oilier picture, rexeiiliny a Initio ' hut. brines to the 1 iht a memory o. ; o|,l Sew Zealand ot the glorious warrior days. It. «hnwii party of members of the Auckland Crown I,ami Hoiinl tin a tour of inspection through the King Country some .'SO years ayo, liesitle n just unearthed hut in the sandhills near the South lleiitl of Kawhia lliirliour Tliis hut. ns the oltl Maoris in the neighbourhood narrated, was the dwelling of the yreat. Hauparalin a' the time ho decided to migrate to the

South of the Island. with all his people. That migration, a jrreatlv ad\ent urons ami momentous episode in Maori history, took place in the early ISiiOs, very nearly 120 yeara «o. The whitre. after its desertior., was Imried in the drifting sand which changes the face of the country clo.se | to the we-tern coast. There it rema ineil. with many other huts and camping places, for nearly !><) years, when Mime Maoris pa-r-iiiLT to the lishiny places, caught siyht of one end .-ticking out from the sand. They did not \ent lire close to it. for they knew of it from tribal tradition; it was the last Kawhia home of t ho fatuous chieftain of Xyntitoa. The tlisco\ery was reported, anil the party of Crown Land ollicers and hoard members photographed here set to work to excavate it. How had thin ancient house, so roujjhly built. and apparently a ruin, heen so lotij» preserved from dent met ion ? K.\a iiiiliat ion showed that it was not a ruin !>v any means, 'ccaii-e it had been constructed of -tunc of the strongest materials in i In Maori hush. The principal part I of the wliare consisted of trunks of ! I he hardest kind of fern tree, the I kind called by the Maoris the "Wheki-

j>•«11;i ixl I>v lint a nisfs ! > ni-« -i|iiari'ii-ii (<>r Dieksonia lilnn-a i. It i-eelllS tllll! S(l <• 111 (•(' I 111 flltl! ii I>l >«»r«'iill v frail a tree as thi-s wheki |)n|i}ia. willi it- head of soft iin.l feathery froiiiU. should have one (it the ha iilct-t of 11 links. It will turn tin - edue of an a\i'. and it is almost iiuli'st met ii• 11■. Maoris often n-cil it in their -ni;i 11 f r houses, for the outer r-idi's of (lie walls, ii n< 1 it is still used in lot iM i ii'j cooking li 111 «s. It i.~ |naetieally lin'proof. I haw n the Units of \\ licki in many places from which other native timbers have loll}; heen cleared away. One place I call to mind is Tinakori Hill, or rather mountain. on which t lie < Hivernineiit wireless station stands, a thousand feet a how Wellington city. There all luit thin ferntree have dir-a ]»j M-ared.

Tli i-s hnci en t dwelling was. ot coiir-e. con-idered highly tapu. havin.ir been occupied 1»v so great and -acred a chief as Kauparaha. No Maori would venture within imaginary striking distance of tliat long-persi-ting -pell of magic, who 11 the light of day again revealed the interior of tlie wtiare. A considerable degree of rer-pect for sacred places and ancient homes of tapu is still -Uown I>\ the people in purely Maori districts. A pakeha settler might u-e old lints for firewood if they were at all suitable. Xot so the Maori. Food cooked with timbers taken unwittingly from tapu houses liar- been known to give serious trouble to the eaters thereof. I have been told in outback kaingas of persons who have died when the nature of their mysterious sickness had been diagnosed by some tohunga. Hut nervous imagination and sheer terror would lie sufficient to cause death unless some more powerful tapu were invoked to conijuer tlie first. That was the old belief, and it has not yet lieen c|uite dispelled bv pakeha e<l neat ion. The Deserted Village. The house in our photograph at Maroa-nui is deserted, or was at the time of our visit. Not only the house but the small kainga in which it stands is deserted, lying under some mysterious ban of tapu. It is a seemingly uncanny place, with an air of gloom about it even on a. bright day. The little kainga consisted ot this house—which was the social hall and al-o the house of most of the people who lived there—and a small church built of sawn timber (Continued on l'age