RAW MATERIAL OF HISTORY

Evening Star, Issue 14512, 2 November 1910, Page 3

RAW MATERIAL OF HISTORY

THE HOCKEN LIBRARY. A SKETCH OF EES CONTENTS. [By Amon E. Tsncus.] vT PICTURES AND CURIOS. Pleasures of memory rather\ than appreciation of Art would seem to be the form token by enjoyment in the picture gallery of the Wing, if one may judge from conversational fragments which float across its fine open space. “Eh, but I kenn’d it fine, when ’twas a bit place like yon,” chortled one “ auld body,” gazing with swelling pride at a water-color drawing of High street, Dunedin, in 1864, or thereabouts, showing the residence of the father of our Sir James Mills, and not many others —all there were at the time. Then the stern old Scotch conscience awakened and smote: “Or may bo a boose or twa the mair, but na’ sao mony.” Or across on the opposite side, where early Port Nicholson views hang, one might hear a handsome, richly-clad matron explain; “ Those Wellington sketches are really most interesting to me! Of course, I was quite a child, a young child; but I certainly can recall the time when Lambton quay looked very much like that: a little more built on, perhaps, but still . .

Of the large oil paintings a ‘Native Council of War,’ by J. A Gilfillan, in 1853, most conveys the impression of artistic merit; while James Smetham’s largo canvas of ‘Maoris in the House of John Wesley’ gives the impression of almost painful fidelity to fact. With regret we find no portrait of Tasman. A group of Cook pictures is an item of real interest as we endeavor to review the earliest beginnings of this country. There are two portraits of Cook—one young, one old. They convey a very good idea of tho fine, resolute face of the Yorkshire laborer’s son who gained for himself, by dint of sheer strength of character, world-wide fame and age-long respect. There is Joseph Banks, as Benjamin West painted him on his return from his first voyage with Cook in 1771—a handsome, care-free young man of twenty-eight, deckel out in Maori mats and grasping a tassel!ed taiaha, while other spoils of his journey—stone axe, paddle, and tapa-beater—are strewn about as artistic accessories. In another picture of him as Sir Joseph all the fun and sparkle have worn out of his dark old tired eyes. Next come portraits of tho Forsters, father and son. Cook’s accompanying naturalists; a beautiful little picture of the Discovery at Deptford, drawn just before Cook’s last voyage; a couple of dramatic scenes, pamted by Clevaly, ship’s carpenter on tho Resolution; ending with an engraving of tho death of Cook. These give realism to the career of that great discoverer. A s«t of New South Wales pictures, Sydney in 1810 and Hobart in 1820, take precedence of the earliest New Zealand sketches. A queer little oil painting gives some notion of Auckland in the early forties; the newly-created capital shows a sandy beach occupied by a Maori whare, a few natives, a dug-out canoe, a little cart drawn by four beasts which may be oxen, dogs, or male’s, according to the fancy in the eye of the beholder; and this is where Shortland street, Queen street, and the Auckland wharves now stand. There are about sixty buildings in the township. Several stores, four hotels, one bank, St. Paul’s Church-—then just opened by Bishop Selwyn—and an old Wesleyan chapel aro the only prominent buildings. A sketch of the Waitemata Harbor in 1862 seems to have been made just at the critical moment in a Maori regatta, for several magnificent war canoes are tearing across the water at full speed, the paddies of the rowers looking as active and as multitudinous as the legs of a centipede. , In the Wellington sketches of the same Cate Lambton quay is a sandy beach,’ with what appear to be thatched houses here and there. To give local color, the British Fla" is introduced, and at the foot of tho flagpole a cluster of Maoris squatting on the ground potato-planting, presumably safe under the shadow of the Groat White Queen. Some water colors, the work of Sir William Fox, and presented by him to Dr Hocken, fitly fill some space. The Wanganui River in 1857 makes a charming little river scene, which the few European dwellings on the opposite bank to the native pah_ fortunately fail to spoil. Another of Sir William’s sketches (Dunedin in 1849) shows our City when it was no more thickly populated than is its suburb St. Leonards to-day; with this difference : that the architectural style shown in St. Leonards is vastly more impressive. The unpretentious wooden jetty and the manuka scrub and the bush-clad hills are just like those of any harbor-side settlement of today. A pretty mere, surrounded by raupo, flax, and cabbage trees, shows how picturesque was tho site of Great King street’s upper reaches before the architect and builder got to be busy there. “Old Anderson’s Bay Track,” with a plank here and there thrown across a swampier bit than usual, with glints of shining water in the coarse grass bathed in sunset light, lobka infinitely more romantic than our electric tram lines and poles and pulleys. Everything has its price, and, judging from these old pictures, the price usually paid for the convenient and the comfortable is the picturesque and romantic. Naturally there are crowdsof “worthies” hung upon these walls. New Zealand has had her share: Bishops and clergy in abundance, beginning with that powerful and muscular Christian the Rev. Samuel Mareden. Coming events cast their shadows before them, and as harbingers of the Otago settlement are placed those uncompromising Scottish churchmen Captain Cargill and the Rev. Thomas Burns, the latter the serious nephew of the merry, graceless Bobbie of that ilk. More affecting to the imagination than any of these is Dr Shortland’s sketch of a pathetic, brownfaced boy, the young Maori chief Maketu. To avenge a curse, he murdered a European, was tried by English law, and sentenced to suffer tho English penalty. Thus he gained the distinction of being the first Maori to be judicially executed. He now hangs in a place of honor, between his Judge, Sir william Martin (the first New Zealand Lord Chief Justice) and Bishop Selwyn. One wonders how much Maketu understood of all that befell him. But we cannot linger longer, except just for a glance at the little sketches copied from Mrs Hobson’s album by Dr Johnson, the physician on Governor Hobson’s staff : three sketches o! the first hoisting of the British Flag on tho banks of tho Waitemata, when Auckland was made the capital city vice Russell, abandoned. Now for tho curios. On a table in tho library lies a bit of historic evidence to which no date has been fixed. It is tho imprint of a moa’s foot upon a fragment of soft sandstone. lake the rest of us, the moa was probably busy about its own nffm’rH, and had no intention of leaving any record behind it when it stepped upon this surface of then impressionable sandstone. But, like ourselves, it was unconsciously taking its share in history-making, and the testimony of the rocks it left that day is now safely stored, with many another as accidental and as ineffaceable, in the safe-keeping of tho Hocken Wing. Alongside it are some remains of weapons used by the party under Captain Wakefield, massacred at the Wairau. Near an early-piitem musket, from which all woodwork had rotted away, was found the re mains of a pistol supposed to have* belonged to Captain Wakefield- This may well be, as it was found just where he lost his last fight. An iron whaling harpoon lay near by, though whether used as a weapon of attack by Maoris or of defence by the settlers is beyond range of conjecture. The study of Maori curios rives one to realise the forced evolution of the Maori. Daring the space of a very few years he has been harried oat of the leisured civilisation of the Stone Age right into the midst of the hustle and rush of the Iron Age—tho age of speed. He lost his own cmHsatkm before he had acquired even the rudiments of ' the succeeding one. Hence chaos, resulting in battle, murder, yiA sadden death for many,. When the

first traders touched these shores they found the Maori back in the Stone Ago, using flint, flax, and timber as his only materials for making ornaments, weapons, and household goods In these relics of that past civilisation, in the use made of such limited and primitive materials, a sense of the beautiful, dexterous manipulation and wonderful ingenuity arc displayed. But tho trader brought iron along with him, and the wood fell before it. Within a single generation tho Maoris became users of iron and steel. Muskets superseded meres. Bullets sped more swiftly and fatally than the long, sharp, polished wooden spears. Tho iron spado and ploughshare took tho place of tho picturesque ko. An iron axe was a treasure to be obtifined by foul moans if fair means failed. They soon discovered that metal hooks caught fish just as well as twig or bone hooks, and took far less trouble in fashioning. Cheap brummagem jewellery was more valued than their own greenstone ornaments, their beautiful combs of wood and flax, or their glittering pawa shells; gaudy cottons more prized than their own priceless mats of flax, grasses, and feathers. So the outward development and inward demoralisation of tho Maori was brought up to date long before the dose of the nineteenth century. His old treasures, made of flax, flint, and wood, were left to perish, or found their way into tho hands of traders who cunningly acquired them for European or colonial museums, or for private collectors. Fortunately for- the Dominion, a goodly share of the spoil fell to tho lot of that most generous of givers, Thomas Morland Hocken, and so find their way back to the people of New Zealand. Lcavinv the library, we go to tho iloor below, where the bulk of the curios arestored, awaiting final arrangement. Entering, several large wooden slabs meet the eye. These elaborately-carved slabs, glittering with pawa shell, aro parts of a typical Maori house, taken from the New Zealand Exhibition of 1889-90. The caves aro specially noteworthy, carved in high relief; so, too, is the tako-tako, the figure placed at the gable end of a Maori dwelling. Presumably this figure had much the same function ns the nod-sticks (some of which stand near), whicn were stuck in tho ground near the village to induce the god to take up his abode for a time in the image. We learn from Mr A. Hamilton’s invaluable work on Maori art (itself an indispensable part of the collection) that in the good old days when miracles happened the priest besought favor of the image, dancing, after the manner of the dervishes, before the image with everincreasing excitement which ended in convulsions. This is not surprising. The truly amazing thing is that the god replied by various signs, one of which was a whistle; the priest got the reply, and gave it to tho people. Next in size to tho Maori house aro the prow and ctern carvings of tho war canoes. Everything belonging to the rangatira which could bo carved was so embellished ; but it was upon tho war-canoe that the artist most spent himself. Advancing or retreating, the canoe must be strikingly beautiful, stately, and full of grace. As much fine workmanship was put into the traceries of the high, carved, stem ornament as upon tho bold, attacking prow, with fearsome and intimidating figurehead. Here aro to be seen fine examples of either extremity. The paddles offered scope for art. Amongst the many interesting paddles in the collection is a wonder of handicraft said to have belonged to the famous Hongi. Its carving is as intricate as tho tattoo tracing on his savage old face, but of a different pattern. One paddle-form of great rarity is very long, slender, and of elegant shape, but there is not much carving upon it. Its interest lies in the fact that it is exactly like the paddle represented in the picture of ‘ A Maori Family in Dusky Sound,’ drawn by Hawkesbury in ‘Cook’s Voyages.’ It is probably a unique specimen of the paddles used by the original tribes In the southwest of New Zealand. Quito as necessary to the Maori as his paddle was his baler. These graceful scoops, with carved, overhanging handle, were objects of art as well as of use, and better adapted for their purpose than any modern vessel made of tin-plate well could be. Now we come to a few of the weapons used in tho happy old days when Maoris raided, slew, and ate one another in fair fight, without unwelcome interference from pakehas. Hero are several specimens of (ho taiaha, something like the old English quarter-staff, which, as a ceremonial weapon used by persons of rank, was carved all over. Amongst them all there are no two alike, yet none lacking the one essential feature: the carved, outthrust tongue in which the taiaha terminates. When used as a fighting weapon in the hands of a competent wieldcr this point was worthy of respectful attention. Tho skill displayed in the nso of this weapon was as great as that seen in the finest swordsmanship, and as keenly cultivated. To the person of high rank, in his daily walk and conversation, the taiaha was altogether indispensable. To the orator it was as necessary as the baton is to the conductor. With it he marked each period and emphasised each telling point. On all occasions it added dignity to his presence. Tho taiahas here shown are all adorned with elaborate carving and pawa shells, and have tiny holes in the handles, through which quillets of dogs’ hair or bunches of huia feathers were attached. It would be interesting to know if, in still earlier times, tho hah- of a slain enemy fulfilled its share in tho scheme of decoration. Of meres and of Maori clubs tiro examples are many and varied. One, of greenstone, sixteen inches long, and of considerable weight, presents a formidable appearance. It still bears ominous stains, and its edges are sharp by reason of hard service. Then there are meres of flint, of whalebone, and of wood. There aro handclubs of many varieties, front a simple heavy knob of gnarled and twisted root, with highly polished handle, to tho carved scimitar-shaped club with elaborate carving on its inner edge. Here, is a short quadrangular hand-dub, with carved handle, which is said to have belotrged to the great Maori warrior Piori, tho leader of the natives at the battle of Rangiriri, fought in November, 1863. The war-spear and the battle-axe inspire respect every bit as much as do meres and clubs, and are far more murderous in appearance, though not in effect, than tho latest rifle and other dandy-looking appliances used by the British in process of their civilisation of tho Maori. Besides weapons fashioned with homiddal intent are several made for the slaughter of lesser beasts —bird spears resembling the dainty, tapering wand of the traditional fairy godmother; fishhooks of carved and sharpened twigs, designed to deceive the wariest fish that ever swam in sea or basked in shallows; flint whaleclubs, calculated to stun the most hardheaded of whales; bird-snares, eel-baskets, and what-not. Of wood and flint were the domestic tools of the Maori. Here is a ko, an ancient wooden spade or potato-digger; the adze, with a shaped handle of wood, and blade of polished greenstone or flint, securely lashed into position by strands of native flax; a boring tool made from flint, wood, and flax, most simple and effective. Tho handle of this is a smooth, stout stick, eighteen or twenty inches long, ending in a sharp point of greenstone. A few inches above the point are cleverly fixed with flaxen thongs a couple of round and weighty stones, four or five inches in diameter ; at the top of the handle are two cords of flax- By reason of the weight, the pulling alternately of each string causes this bit of rude mechanism to act litre the drills which may be seen at work in any foundry. Fern-root beaters; four carved poles for holding flax mats in position during the weaving process, were part of the Maori’s necessary outfit. All domestic utensils, bowls, platters, dippers, buckets, and oven cooking pots are of wood. The patua, or bucket, ot folded totara bark, is absolutely simple and efficacious. Before matches arrived a Maori Prometheus brought fire from heaven upon a bit of soft wood. Here is a bit of firestick, rubbed into grooves by some patient brown hand. Fortunately time was not money to the early Maori. Of wood was fashioned part of the naive adornment of the sex whose gloiy is her hair, a back comb of slender sticks of I equal length, woven together in an elaborate pattern by colored, grasses, and orach

more beautiful than those adorning the fashionable coiffure of to-day. Here is a girdle of plaited dyed flax; also sandals of the same (size lours), “to be worn in snowy weather.” Amongst all these things made by Maoris long ago, not a single object is ugly or unsightly in the usual way common to cheap manufactured goods. The purposely hideous is often found, for the Maoris’ sense of humor found expression in the grotesque. Of the several greenstone tikis here, each one ie more hideous than the others, and—one may surmise—likely to be absolutely efficacious in frightening away spirits more evil than their own. Now hero wo come to something most interesting. A casual look reveals something that might lie a disreputable rag of old cocoanut malting, of coarse fibre and open mesh. It is probably a most ancient Egatimoo relic. It was found in a deft of rock at Strath Taieri, bound round the skeletons of a woman and child. Loosely woven into its meshes aro the soft white leathers of the albatross, and a few golden Drown weka feathers. Some, who aro wise in such matte is, suggest that the coarse-fibred flax and the queer knot used m the weaving indicate pro-Maori times. I'lris theory is strengthened by fragments of skin mats found wrapped -within the flax mat on the woman’s body. This ls a bit of a garment made of weka skins sewn together; over one of the seams, to hide the joint, is a strip of another sort of skin. It is only about three inches long, by tliree-quarters of an inch wide, but it still carries a white down, and when discovered also boro five or six of unmistakable soft, double-spined, white feathers of the moa. Without doubt it is a strip of moa skin, only a tiny fragment, but most remarkable, as being the only piece of moa skin yet identified as occurring in any mat or covering. Part of a dogskin mat was found with these treasures, made from, skins of the common yellow Maori dog. And the woman’s mass of hair, tied about with a strand of itself, finely plaited, gives a touch of pathos to tills undoubtedly ancient relic. Could wo but discover from it the chronological relation of the moa, the woman, and the dog, wo would find the clue to more than one unanswered problem.