Sixteen Maori Heads

Bruce Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2862, 15 June 1897, Page 3

Sixteen Maori Heads

WEIRD SPECTACLE FOR LONDON SIGHTSEERS. Should the negotiations now pending between the oommittee of Guildhall Annual Art Exhibition and MajorGeneral Robley, the author of " Maori or, Maori Tattooing " (Chapman and Hall), come to a satisfactory conclusion — and there is every likelihood tbey will — London will in May have the option of seeing a sight more novel and impressive, probably, than it has ever witnessed before. This is no less than a collection of the embalmed heads of sixteen Maori war rio is, and one of a tiny native babe. The dark mahogany face of the infant, framed in a covering of fair silken hair is, excepting the color, but little nnlike that of an English child. Not so the adults. Stamed and scrolled with the tattooer's blade, with Btitched-up eyelids, widely - grinning white teeth, the nostrils fitted with discs of opalescent haliotus shell, they present objects of the most striking weird nesa, only relieved by the astounding cleverness and accuracy of their facial co graving. In rows on the cupboard shelves of the owners strongroom the fixed LAUGH OF THE LONG SINCE DEAD and the stare of tbe sightless eyes seemed to a ' Daily Mail ' representative the most impressive and strangest coterie he had ever interviewed. To relieve the heavy tension of the silent room and its array of bodiless heads, a maxim fire of questions was directed at Major-Qeneral Robley, the collector of these gruesome pic ures. "It is the finest collection in the world of speci- | mens of a rapidly-dying art, that of ' Moko ' or ' Mnori-tattooing,' " said the gentleman thus questioned. "In the whole of the publio collections of New Zealand there are only four such heads. The Government of that colony are now making stienuous efforts to preserve tbe most complete evidences of the customs, habitations, and arts of the country's original holder*) before ail such traces and symbols of asivage past have disappeared. A law prohibits the s-)le or purchase of the-e heads in New Zealand, aud in the past many adventurous seekers after the precious emblems lost their own top pieces to the outraged honor of the Maoris, who fiercely resented the sacrilegious profanation of their customs. The preservation of the heads of the departed was originally an honor reserved for native chiefs or important personages. Then tho custom spread, and took the place of the photo of civilisation, serving the objects of statues or monumental records. Heads of enemies slain in the fierce tribal wars j were embalmed and kept as trophies, I ju-it as the Red Indian used to trim j hi** robes with the ecalps of his victims. I The dried-upeyes indicate thattheheadis PRESERVED BY LOVING BELATIVEB for those killed in battle had their orbs gouged out by the warrior- victor, in oz*der to incorporate the dead man's spirit — atua tonga -in his own vitals. See where the sharp greenstone club gashed in the skull of this warrior, whose curly black hair bespeaks the chieftain. Here is a cruel blow, fracturing the jaw — a favorite knockoat blow of the M*or: — and followed up by two more through the skull on the forehead and across the left ear. It was no peaceful argument that so freely let out that man's life. To embalm a head, the brain was first taken out, and the residue subjected to frequent steaming in an oven. All flesh was removed, a manuka stick whs pnt in to preserve tome shape of the nose. Next it was dried in the sun and _ually -well smoked In -wood fames. In the last process tbe heads became so thoroughly impregnated with pyroligneous acid from the burning wood as to exempt them from the attacks of insects or decay, and some of them are sixty to ninety years old. The tattooing was done with a narrow, sharp chisel, made of a bird's wing-bone, and hammered with a little mallet. The coloring pigment used was kauri, or pine resin, burnt and powdered. Many were tattooed because such a be -dpiece of art was cut off and preserved after death, instead of being treated with indignity. The process gar*?, as may be imagined, great pain, aod the women sang to the patient during the ordeal. Thus between two afflictions, the the wairior bore both, and was resignedly tattooed and tortured. I was in the Maori war of 1864, with the Durham Light Infantry, when Captain Lloyd, of the 57th Infantry, was ambuscaded and killed at Te Ahohu. The captain fought heroically, slaying three of the enemy after being severely wounded, but his head wt-s cut off and preserved by the Maoris as that of a brave man."