WANDERINGS IN WONDERLAND.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8482, 13 May 1893, Page 3

WANDERINGS IN WONDERLAND.

Weekly Press and Referee. CHAPTER IV. It would be hard to describe tbe scene which followed. The roniag chorus of the war song; the horrid grit— u~3; the eyes all white; the tonguss banging oat; tUe farious, yet me_sared, j_d —tiiform g—siicubaiou, jumpiug and stamping. I telt the ground plainly tre_<>linj. — Old New Zealand.

PAREKINO.

As we reached the precipitous bank Above which is perched the Maori settle* tnent of Parekino, we found the shore lined with empty canoes that belonged to the visitors, who had nocked from all parts of the river to attend tbe Native meeting. We pushed our way to the most likely looking spot to effect a landing, but eveu here tne ground was so steep that our canoeist slipped in jumping on shore, and in doing so, not only drenched himself, but also our few belonging-}; as soon as we had fished out mau aud baggage, we climbed the embankment and soon reached what In courtesy may be calted the mAn thorouglifare ot tbe pah. Here, we found a great crowd of men, women and children, who all- seemed to bo in the happiest of moods and to vie with each other in making a noise. Tim turmoil and confusion came as a strauge contrast to the almost solemn calm of the hill-clasped river, down which we had beeu gliding for so many hour-. Near the crowd we noticed several stalls for the c of such ibmall commodities as soap, Candles, matches aua, strange to nay, blacking; why this last article was in txoaest we failed to guess, for nearly present was barefooted. "Pos•TtiijFf&otH were considered coo gOod to be ttss-.w|lilstc-mpiug, on the same principle as that adopted by the nuger, who when it rallied carried his h.u under his coat. Aftejfefhreading our way through the WOtim crowd, each member of which to be addressing the one who JWBPS—rthest aw «y front him, we at last came to the public rueetiug ground, where ||i» found a very different hcene. Around large open >>pace were seated some three ?lf®r four hundred earnest looking men, to - v whom one dusky orator was holding forth in fiery lang'unge - that seemed to have far more effect upon the speaker than it did upon the listener*. Oa one aide of the ring and under tne shelter of a tree, there was ai table at which were seated two or three natives, who appeared to be takiug notes of the proceedings; everything was being couaucted In the most orderly manucr, and the natives themselves were as fine a body of men as could be found in any p-rt of the world. So far we had not found anyone who could speak English, but now we were lucky enough to meet Mr Butler from Wellington, the genial Government agent, Who was present, iv his official capacity. We lost no time iv making known to him our earnest wish to interview Te. Kooti. This, we were informed, wus almost impossible, as Te Kooti had so fir refused to meet any ot the white people who had called at the settlement, and that even Tery few of the natives had caught a glimpse of him. As we po.slited iv our request, Mr Butler kindly introduced us to the great Maori chief, Major Kemp, to whom we stated our wishes, at the some time asking him to do all he could lor us. The Major at once promised that we should meet his old opponent and led us towards the tents thar lined the backEround.itwasextremely interestiugi omeet a manlike Major Keeps, or.as he is generally called, Major Kemp. Dr. Duller, when he had the pleasure of presenting the New Zealand war mqdal to Major Kemp, reminded those who were present that the man whom they had met so honour was a chief by birth, who first distinguished himself in battle in 1547, and for some time at great personal risk trausported the mails Between Wellington and Vv _i!_anui: when tile war broke out. he succeeded in raising a native contingent of which he was appoiuted Captain. For bis devoted and Chivalrous contiurt at Moturoa (IS6S) he received the New Z aland of Honour. He was one of those appuiu ed to avenge tbe murder of the Rev. Mr Volkucr; ne Served with McDonnell under Geueral Cameron, and, subsequently, under General Chute. He assisted Sir George Grey at the taking of W-iroa Pah. aud afterwards fought under Colonels McDonnell and Whit mo c, at all limes uisiinguishlng himself by daring courage. At the takiug ol Moturoa, where the friendlies had met with a temporary repulse, Kemp sprang to the front, and tanning along the parapet, shouted a chal kage to tbe chiefs of the enemy to meet him In single combat, thus by his daring example stimulating the wavering courage of our native allies, and ensuring us the victory. . In recognition of his services he Was promoted to the rank of Major. When the rebellion had Ixeu crushed on the West Coast, Major Kemp waa instructed by the Government to organise an expedition against Te Kooti. Startiug from the bead waters of the Wanganui, he pursued Te Kooti to the East Coast, and thence back to the Ouiwa Mountains, Where he succeeded in breaking up and dispersing Te Kooti's bind. Asa further recognition of hi« services to the Crown, Major Kemp was presented with a handsome sword, the gut of the Queen. Following the Major around the circle

formed by the debaters, at each step being prvseuted to some celebrity, we at length reached the vicinity of the visitors' tents. Here the Major gave some instructions to a messenger who disappeared Within the high wooden fence that had been built around the tent occupied by ■\* Kooti and his wife. After a considerable delay that was passed in fruitless attempts to understand the salutations and greetings of a couple of hundred stalwart men who crowded round us, our attention was suddenly attracted by loud cries, and the crowd surging we at length stood face to face with the much feared and ever hated Te Kooti. Instead of the grim bloodthirsty looking being whom we had expected to meet, we found Te Kooti to be in many respects the most insignificant being in the whole crowd. Te Kooii, whose very name was once a terror in New Zealand, stood there, an undersized, narrow-chested weaklegged ola man, whose expression was anything but unpleasant, and who looked as though his highest ambition was to dress himself in the loudest of European clothes. Besides a glaring check suit and a large straw hat with coloured ribbon, he carried a huge white umbrella, with green lining. Added «.o these adorn menu he sported velvet pile clippers aud a large gold chain with greenstone pendant. On tne approach, of Te Kooti, Major Kemp stepped forward and introduced us. Te Kooti at once shook hands, ana then through Mr Butler, who kindly interpreted, expressed his pleasure at meeting us, and stated that be was sure we should be made welcome during our stay. After a few more remarks Te Kooti once more shook hands with us and then retired. The fact of our having interviewed Te Kooti appeared to raise us greatly in the estimation of the natives, who at once showed us great civility and attention. Having again placed ourselves under the charge of the heroic major, we were conducted to the most comfortable house in the village, where we were soon seated at tea with some of the leading chiefs, with -whom we were quickly on the best of terms. We were naturally very pleased at our success in meeting Te Kooti, for no man in New Zealand has ever had so remarkable a career; perhapt, when the history of the New Zealand war is written in a calm judicial spirit Te Kooti, instead of being looked upon as a monster of iniquity, will be regarded rather as a patriot who valiantly essayed, against impossible odds, to rescne his country from the yoke of the white invaders. Te Kooti, who for some trifling offence was banished to the Chatham islands, manaced on the sth July, IS6B. to escape with 200 other natives in the schooner Rifleman. After a rough passage of five days, during which all the greenstone ornaments and one man were thrown overboard to appease " Tangaroa " —tbe storm god—the vessel arrived at Whareougoonga, fifteen miles south of Poverty Bay. For three years Te Kooti fought against the combined forces of the colony: and, although scores of times apparently within the grasp of bis opponents always managed to escape. During the fifty engagements which took place between Te Kooti and the Colonial forces at least 2003 men were killed or wouuded. It is, indeed, remarkable that a man without either great physical strength or the prestigo of hereditary chieftainship should have been able to conduct such a campaign aud eventually to escape with hi* life. . The perusal of Te Kooti's three years' warfare reminds one more of a work of fiction than of anything one would expect to happen in the Nineteenth Century. Tbe -fallowing little incident of the war would be pronounced too overdrawn, even recounted, in a story by Rider Haggard :— Some time after the Poverty Bay massacre, three Maoris, followers of Te Kooti, who bad assisted at the butchery, returned to the bay as cool as though they were perfect innocents. On hearing of their return three settlers, Messrs Wylie, Benson, and Brown, who had lost relatives durine the massacre determined to be revenged on these scoundrels, one of whom had murdered Wyllie's son. The avengers proceeded at night to the pah where the Maoris were staying, but only succeeded in killing one of them, who was shot dead by Benson. On the following day a constable called upon Benson, who was walking in the towuship, to attend as a juryman at the inquest on his victim; in vain Benson assured the constable that be could not sit as a juryman as he had killed the mau.; the limb of the law was, not to be put off by such a trifling excuse as that, he hurried Benson to the jury-room, where again Benson explained that he had done the deed. The iutelHgent and Impartial, jury at once brought in'their verdict,. "Shot, by some.peison unknown, and serve him right." And with this verdict who would not agree? As soon as we had disposed of our evening meal we again joined the crowd outside, and found tbe time well occupied in watching the various amusements of our Maori friends. The most important-item of the programme was a band contest, which was to be followed by a grep.t haka, or war-dance in honour of the meeting between Kemp and Te Kooti. The bandsmen were all arrayed in full, uniform except the boots ; these articles of apparel were evidently considered mere superfluities, find likely to prevent the competitors from getting a fair hold of mother earth during the frantic struggles of tbe contest. It is not necessary to give any special description of the playing, it will be sufficient to say that we.heard it all and still live, but on the.other baud ie must be borne In mind that w,e -have castiron constitutions. The bands would have played much longer than they did,'but their stand happened to be nearTe Kooti's tent, and this warrior, although he had withstood the brunt of so many bard conflicts, broke down completely under the strain of this last contest. Thoioughly j humbled, and let us hope brought to a due j sense of his past .misdeeds he sued for mercy. Probably out of consideration fay his declining years hispiraver was granted and his persecutors ceased to murder the ; best masters. ' t ' No sooner had the music ceased than ' preparations commenced' for the haka; flaring lamps on poles were fixed in a row, the spectators, whonumbered considerably over a thousand, gathered on one side of the lamps, leaving the other side clear for the performers. Just at this. time the moon rose above the brow of a neighbouring hill, and her light streamed across the bread river and lighted up the plateau upon which the motley and expectant crowd was gathered. It was a wonderful sight to look round on those hundreds of swarthy faces with their gleaming eyes, and to note later on the diiferent expressions of the dense tnasn of humanity as it swayed under the varying passions that were aroused by the performance. Suddenly silence was proclaimed and then, in the distance, could be heard tbe rhythmical sound of iramping feet that came nearer and nearer. Presently, in the fiiful light of the lamps, there appeared some three score warriors who, with tbe exception of a loin cloth, were quite nude, and whoso faces and bodies were painted in such a way that they presented a most diabolical appearance. They then proceeded with the movements of the haka, which are studied by the Maoris from early childhood, for it is only by constant practice that they are enabled to jerk their limbs, distort their features, and utter their wild grunting cries in such perfect unison.

The performers on this occasion appeared to be past masters of their art. They commenced with a somewhat slow, but emphatic, throwing of the hands from side to side, and a corresponding twist of the head, ut tbe same time accompanying themselves by a chant, iv which the words were hissed out as though iv suppressed fury; after a time, the movements beearne more energetic aud the song more impassioned, till at last, every member of the baud was worked up into a state of frenzy. At one moment each one faced the crowd with rolling eyes and outstretched bauds, his body quivering in every muscle, a moment later every man had sprung partly round, and bringing the right foot down with full force upon the ground, leant forward and struck the man in front of him aresouuding blow upon the shoulder. These and a hundred other movements were performed with such exactitude that the six'y men appeared *xt be always moved by one common impulse. Afrer some ten or fifteen minutes of this demoniacal pantomiming, and just at the moment of the greatest excitement, the actors suddenly dropped upon their knees, and in a second were as still as the dead. Tbii sudden contrast from storm ts» calm was very effective. No sooner had the loud cries of approval from the dense mass of onlookers ceased than our attention was drawn to a man and woman who, from the shadow of the tents, approached the kneeling braves and in turn addressed them iv fervid language. The small but wild looking man was Te Kooti, aud the tall statuesque woman was his wife. After bis harangue to the kneeling men, Te Kooti addressed himself to Major Kemp and informed him with oratorical effect and in Maori metaphor, that the season for their wars had passed, and that now the two of them would be as brothers, and in token of their beiug bound together aa one, Te Kooti took up aud presented to Kemp a handsome Maori belt. Major Kemp having responded in suitable terms, we had another ten minutes of the haka*

And then, as this was the last night of the great Parekino raeetinc, the various chiefs who were to leave on the followiug day, stepped forward and thanked their hosts, and said farewell to the crowd. As soon as the business of the evening was finished,we were conducted to our sleeping place, which proved to be a well stocked food house, there amid&t sacks of potatce* and strings of onions, with a bag of flour for a pillow, we slept till we were awakened iv the early moruing by tiie snorting of tbe horses, that wore being saddled for thosn returning to their homes by the road. Our ablutions were performed in buckets of water that we filled by lowering them down a long slanting rope, the other end of which was fastened in the distant river. The labour of hauling up these half-filled buckets made ns realise the advantage of a good water supply. As soon as we had disposed of an early breakfast we said good-bye to our kind-hearted hosts, aud then, accompanied by our smiling canoeist we once more embarked, and shooting into the main current were soon far away from the life and bustle of Parekino. Once more we drifted amone the glorious hills aud through the deeo gorges, where the silence was only broken by the wailing notes of the dirge-like song with which our boatman accompanied his paddling. As we floated on past lofty peak and nestling bush our memories reverted to the many incidents of the past evening, and we thought with sadness of the fate that awaited the. poor Maoris to whom this magnificent country really belongs; with numbers that are year byyeardecreasingtheir disappearance from the earth is a foregone conclusion. When they are no more ie will be truthfully said of them that they were th«i bravest atid most intelligent of all the dark races that have melted away beneath the sWay of their pale faced conquerors. By midday we arrived at more open country, where the scattered homesteads gave evidence that we had left the true Maori country aud that, at least for tbe present, we had come to the end of our wanderings In Wonderland. And now, once more, we don the coat Of formal cat, mil waißtcoat trim ; With collar tight, that nips the thro.it, And makes the form look starched and prim. In vain we think of days of ease, When thronirh the bush, devoid of care. Wo joggei along, with nana to please, Or take offence at clothes threadbare. Bat now, alas, we're homeward bound, And mast perforce comply with rales Made of cant and empty sonnd, That only serve to moke us tod j. Bnt yet through all we'll foadly cling To mem'ry dear, of days gone by, And never cease their praise to aing, And for tbe past to softly sigh.