TALES OF TAUPO.

Evening Star, Issue 10339, 12 June 1897, Page 4 (Supplement)

TALES OF TAUPO.

[By Alfred A. Grace, Neison.J ( Copyrighted ) IL MATIAHA THE READER. Villiers was a man under a vow, whioh he had travelled sixteen thousand miles to perform. At his setting out most men said his labor would be in vain ; all deprecated the exile of his wife ; some men, now that he has lived his life, declare that all his work was labor lost. But mark the story of Matiaha the Reader, who was a convert from cmnibalism. The new karakia that Villiera brought to Taupo had clean got hold of Matiaha. His ambition was to be a full-blown priest, but for the present ho was only a simple licensed Uy reader waiting to enter the diaconate. His duty was to read the service when his spiritual superior was absent from Pukawa, and to deliver a sermon on the plain fundamentals of the new religion. Aud if he did his work well and proved himself worthy, when the bishop made his next visitation Matiaha was to be raised to the probationary office of deacon. But it was necessary that his zeal should be well established, and his fitness for the calling made plain; and of these he was determined, when next he should be called on to preach, to give unmistakeable proofs. He had noticed that the one great difficulty which stood in the way of the new karakia was the custom of polygamy. To this burning question he directed his attention. He would exhort the people to put away their superfluous wives, and so fit themselves for baptism. The chiefs were by nature of their rank the greatest offenders in this particular ; to them Matiaha would direct all his powers of persuasion, but principally to Te Parata, who wa9 the greatest offender of them all. The time had come. Villiers was away on a visit to the foot of the great lake; Matiaha must officiate in the church. The building was crowded with people—catechumens, neophytes, proselytes from heathenism. But many unbelievers were there too, all ready to know more of the new karakia that was so hard to understand. Te Parata was there, sitting in his seat, facing all the congregation. The service began, and the devotions were conduoted with deep reverence and decorum. Matoha's voice rang clear above all the other worshippers', sonorous, musical. The prayers were all said, the Scriptures read, the time for M&Uaha's sermon had come. He stepped down from the reading desk and stood in the centre of the little chancel. He did not give out his text in the orthodox style, chapter and verse, but began straight away: "In the God created a man and a woman. He did not create one man and six women"—here he glanced significantly at Te Parata—"nor even one man and two women. He made for one man one woman, for one woman one mm." And here Matiaha scored a point which the translators of hia Bible had missed. Then he went on to show that it was not till the sixth generation from Adam that a man was known to live polygamously. That man was Lamech, a murderer, of the stock of the murderer Cain. Then the world was divided into two great tribes—the children of Adam, who worshipped God, and the children of Cain, who were cursed, and bowed the knee to no Atua, but were given up to every sort of wickedness, and at length corrupted " the sons of God "to live polygamously. And it repented God that He had made man on the earth. And then came the Deluge. Here Matiaha had full scope for a fine display of oratory, and, as his eloquence waxed greater and greater, he strode to and fro within the limited space between himself and his hearers. And Te Parata sat by and listened attentively, as he would to one of hia own tohungas, though deprecatory expressions now and then escaped his lips. Matiaha's theory of marriage may not have been that of Dirwin or Herbert Spencer, but it was wonderful with what vehemence he insisted on its sacred origin. He knew by experience what marriage by capture meant, but he did not recognise monogamy as arising from that source. His theory was that their many wives had been the downfall of King Solomon and his successors ; these kings had brought disaster to their people; that people was enslaved ; as with the Maoris so with them, slaves were allowed only one wife; thus monogamy was restored, and had been maintained by the karakia from the time of Paul.

And all the duplicate wives of the under chiefs listened in silence, and wondered ■what would become of all of them if this new order of things were introduced. And Te Parata'a six wives looked at one another, and thought what a " come down " theirs would be if their lord and master were imbued with these new principles of matrimony. Te Parata himself was showing some signs of excitement. A curious custom prevailed amongst Maoris of letting the nail of the right thumb grow till it was a veritable talon. And it was for a strange reason. As a Maori journeyed he liked to examine the material of various objects of interest he came across. Thus in his travels he might stumble on a strange-looking stone which interested him, or observe some peculiar tree which appeared new to him. An Englishman in making examination of such objects would take out his pocketknife, and scrape away the moss from the atone or the bark from the tree. A Maori of those days would use his, protruding thumb-nail. The nail of Te Parata's right thumb showed that he was a man of research. And as he listened to Matiaha|s discourse he nervously picked with his thumb-nail the wood of the seat in which be sat.

Matiaha had now come to his most convincing argument, whioh was to clinch the whole matter, and leave it decided once and for all. The new karakia taught that in the sight of the Atua all men were equal. There was one rule for the Blave and for his master, one for the mere tribesman and for the chief. Therefore, if it were right for the rangitim to have many wives, it was also right for the tvtua. But this could not be, for if the Atua had intended every man to have more than one wife He would have made a great many more women than there were upon the earth. Were there twice as many women as men ? No. Then each man should have but one wife.

Then he began his peroration :—" Solomon the great king, had many wives—one hundred, two hundred, three hundred—too many. He was a great king; you might know it by the many wives he had. And he was very rich. But his wives were the ruin of him, for they came between him and his Ataa. They made his heart so soft that he listened to all they said, and did all that they desired. And that was why his son grew np a vain and empty fellow, in whose day the land was divided and so became subject to the arms of the invader. And we in Taupo," said Matiaha, " have a chief who is like Solomon, wiser than any man of all our tribes, even as was bis brother Tukino before him; brave as David, who slew Goliath ; great as his great son ; but even as they, to their hurt, owned many wives, so does our chief to hi 9.'' Te Parata's face had assumed a furious aspect, and he trembled with rage at being dictated to by a mere tutw, a nobody. Matiaha looked at him and continued : " Let Te Parata set the people an example which they may copy; let the sub-chiefs of the tribe follow him and the people of the new karakia, and then " Then Te Parata rose from his seat, and making three steps towards Matiaha the Reader, struck him an awful blow with his clenched right hand. Matiaha reeled back till he fell against the Communion Table, and there he leaned for support His left cheek was cut from jaw to cheek-bone by the talon of Te Parata's right hand. The chief then turned and said to the people who were all standing up in amazement: "So ir-ich for this upstart Matiaha and his new /• irakia." And then he stalked through the Midst of his people and made his exit from the cbnrch. With the hem of his garment Matiaha staunched the blood that flowed from his cheek. With bis right har.d he beckoned to the people to sit down. One or two of them followed the chief through the door.

Said Matiaha : "' If a man smite you on the one cheek,' the karakia aays, 'let him Finite yo»i on the other.' If there is any other man who thinks to disprove my words br a blow, let him come and smite me also.

The karakia is great, the karakia is true; no man can answer the words I have spoken. To every man let there be bat one wife : to every woman one husband. Then will all oar tribes become united and the Maori people be a great people.. Bat let all men know that this karakia that I teach is not to be overcome by blows. So it was at its beginning. Sd it will be to the end."

( To be conttnwd.)