MAORI LEGENDS

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1935, Page 34

MAORI LEGENDS

jby sir ;matji pomace

.AN -ENGLISH REVIEW

T?he-second volume of "Legends of the Maori," by Sir Maui Pbmare, edited by \James Cowan and illustrated, by Stuart Peterson,- is the subject of a lengthy .review in "The Times Literary Supplement." "Legends of the Maori" was projected several years ago by the late Sir Maui Pomare and Mr. James Cowan in collaboration as a work in four volumes; and the first volume, of which Mr. Cowan was the sole" author, was published about three years ago. ,

Pomare's. authority to speak on the subjects'Of ;this second volume is beyond question,-remarks the reviewer. A' Maori himself, he*had acquired the Maoril culture, and mentality-from the beginning; and as a chief of high rank he ■ had ' sources of information open to him which were not available for the pakeha or even for the Maori of -lower raiik.' And by his assimilation IT-of-New. Zealand and.American culture *^-for: besides taking a New Zealand degree .he had graduated in medicine-with-honours ;at the University of Chicago in order to become the doctor of the Maori—he had only increased his patriotic and scientific interest in bis-own people. But Pomare's labours were cut short by a serious illness from which in May, 1930, he, sought treatment 'in .the United Stat.es. Just fcefore sailing for a land from which he never returned Pomare handed his friend some manuscript with ■ the remark, "You will find something here that no one else has got." "Practically concluded on his deathbed," as Mr. Cowan says, this proved to be;the. best part of the present volume. But more, time -would . have made it .still better,, and this remark applies to other 1 parts of the book. There are again other parts which the writer himself would not have included in it, and which Mr. Cowan would doubtless have excluded if he had had a iree hand.

More than J!00 years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic the daring navigators of Polynesia had discovered New Zealand; and during the century following 1250 they not only made several voyages from Tahiti-to New Zealand—a distance of some .2000 miles— but, found their way back. But it was not till about 1350 that New Zealand was colonised by, what, though commonly called "the Fleet," was really a number of canoes travelling independently and at unknown intervals. The Tainui was one of these vessels, and her people settled on the West Coast of the North Island with Kawhia. Harbour as their headquarters. In Part lof his book Pomare, who was a descendant of Hoturoa, the commander of the Tainui, tells of. the building and launching of the -vessel in Hawaiki (Tahiti), of. the journey to Aotearoa (New Zealand), and of: the episodes in the history of the West Coast tribes during the period of about five centuries which preceded the arrival of • the white man. Mr.. Cowan had given the narrative the title of "The. Saga of Tainui"; and he is justified in calling it the most valuable part of the book on the ground that, though the story had been told before,' there is here, as Pomare said, "a good deal of new matter."/ . . The section entitled "Polynesian. History" is limited to Aitutaki (the Codk' Islands), regarding which much detailed information" relating to tribal migrations and wars and genealogies is packed into a narrow space. The reason for Pomare's . special interest in theXobk: Islands was that they had come'ilhder: his jurisdiction as Health Officer' and Minister- of Health and Minister in charge of the Cook Iss--lands in the New Zealand Government, and. he had. spent much time there in the discharge of his oixial duties. But a ; curious' feafure'of this valuable instalment of Polynesian history is that near the : end of it there is an incidental reference to "the .native his* torian of Aitutaki who gave ■ the foregoing history.of, the .Island people," and his naineas afterwards shown to be; G. Henry. ' Whether Mr. Henry "iwrbte tljis- -history for-the • present tyork. or whether' it had previously appeared-.elsewhere, is not. disclosed. ■?\. .■'">;. v '<!ZE_ T{N PAKE]HA." ■"After these first two 'parts, Which occupy about, a .third - of the volume, the:quality of the work; tails off in a yery disappointing fashion. Under the respected title of "Legends. of the Maori;?'/Part ni. includes a good deal of-poor and irrelevant'matter. Pomare had:a keen sense of humour and could tella s't<ky. well when-he was content tp be natural. The best of these stories- describes the astonishment of a Maori village when, after watching a party of anglers at their meal "of tinned foods, •it heard a phonograph for the first time. The chief, when, asked his opinion of the- performance, said:— ■ . Ka pai\ (good) te tin' fish; ah, ka pai te tin. meat; very ka pa te tin pudding;:but by korry te tin.pakeha he, takey te cake! Compensation is provided for these irreleyancies by some valuable supple- 1 mentary matter. "In Farewell to the. Dead" 'gives._; Specimens of Pomare's eloquence^ in a department in which h&: .stood;very high. "New Life' for the.. Maori" covers the text of the admirable paper that he read before the-Australasian Medical Congress at Melbourne in 1906; Under the title "In Memoriam" the tributes paid to Pomare's memory, in Parliament and at the funeral testify to the value of his public services and to the esteem in which he was held by both races. Pomare would " have given7 us a much better book .if, instead of >■ writing it in English, he had written it in Maori and had then translated it himself Vor had got someone else to doit for him, suggests the writer of the ■•review. The contrast between his two "styles is remarkable. Mr. Cowan's description of him as "a master of the' classic eloquence of the Maori" may be illustrated by - a passage from his speech at Te Whiti's funeral in 1907; the passage is introduced by an oracular saying attributed Ito a great chief 200 years before the .coming of the white man: "Shadowed behind the tattooed face the stranger, stands. He is white. He owns the earth." ,

Now (Pomare proceeded) the pakeha has gome, the iron has taken the-place of the stone. The lightning; flash of the paheka's. wisdom 1 (referring- to the telephone) speaks frbm near,and far. The old order has. changed; your ancestors said it '.would! change.- When , the net is old and woru it is cast aside, the ■ new net goes fishing. Ido not want ' to'blanie the old net; it. was good in its, Say," and many fish were caught in it. But the old net is worn with time, and we must go fishing with the new net our brother has brought

us. • We must advance by work, for therein lies our only salvation. The directions, the simplicity, the beauty, and the power of such eloquence as this makes the best that the | pakeha can do'seem clumsy and feeble in comparison. But the worst that the pakeha can do does not fall far behind the distressing journalese into which Pomare is apt to lapse when he is writing up the traditions of his ancestors ,in , English for the pakeha's edification.