RAW MATERIAL OF HISTORY

Evening Star, Issue 14513, 3 November 1910, Page 8

RAW MATERIAL OF HISTORY

THE HOCKEN LIBRARY. A SKETCH OP ITS CONTENTS. [By Annie E. Thimble.] VL MOKO. Jlmoet every volume written by the jarliest writers on New Zealand contains (ome reference to the curious tatn named by the Maoris “Moko.” Tasman alone makes no mention of it, and this has caused a hasty conclusion to be advanced as a fact that Moko was unknown at tae. lime o+ Tasman’s short and early visit to these shores. “Shores” advisedly, for neither Tasman nor any of hi? company set foot upon the land, having learned prudence by the sight of tho inhospitable reception given to the first boatload of white men which attempted a landing. “ These ferocious natives,” Tasman tells us, killed three men and mortally wounded a fourth, in tho space of a very few minutes. Probably Tasman, a great traveller, was accustomed to regard tatu as “the only wear lor savages, and hardly thought the fact worth recording. Captain Cook, Banks, Parkinsou, Savage, Cruise, Marsden, D’Urville, Angas, Polack, Shorthand, and other ■writers have contributed to our knowledge •f Moko; Joest and Dittmer treat it from a German standpoint. In General Robley e fine work is to be found the fullest, latest, ynfl most exhaustive information about this fast-vanishing art. General Robley had unequalled opportunities of seeing Maori tatu at its best. Ho held a command during the Maori War in the sixties, and saw the grandly carved heads of the fierce old fighting chiefs in action. In his book he somewhat naively regrets that so many of those tine heads have been simply lost or buried on tho battlefield. It would have belter satisfied tho General’s instinct as a collector if they had been preserved as mementoes of the good old days before Maori decadence set m. Then, too, they would have added much to the General’s already unique collection of heads. That the practice of tatu lias ever been ■widely diffused is evident, for tho world s ancient records contain frequent reference to it as a religions rite, as a distinctive mark, and as a mode of personal ornamentation. Herodotus records that the mummified body of Ajnant, a Theban priestess of Hathor, of the Eleventh Dynasty, was found to be extensively tatued. Linking anci»nt Egypt with New Zealand of to-day, the late Dr Hockeu, when visiting England, made the interesting discovery that some of tho earlier Egyptian mummies boro certain ornamental designs which till then had been considered purely Egyptian, but which tho doctor recognised and identified ns some of tho most ancient Moko patterns. To follow the clue a little further, in a letter to Dr Hockeu, General Robley comments upon a curious resemblance he has observed between the spiral designs of the Maori Moko and tho favorite scheme of Egyptian ornamentation, n.c. 2758. That same keen observer points out that to-day the married women of Assouan villages, from far up the Nile, are tatued iu precisely the same fashion as are the Maorr women —a few lines on the lips, a fr.voll from the angles of the mouth to the chin, and sometimes with what resembles an inverted crown between the eyes. Scientists see more than coincidence in trifles like this, and are apt to follow up such clues. It may be that a scientific comparative study of tatu, tho world over, will had tc suggestive discoveries of connection between apparently far-sundered peoples. Ethnologically, therefore, the subject is of engrossing importance. Of the origin of Moko very little is known. Many theories have boon mooted, but none are based upon proven fact, b'ong and tradition are now the only sources from which the early Maori story may be gathered. From these wc learn that when tho world was young, when Maui fished up New Zealand from tho bottom, of the sea, he also introduced the art of tatuing. Its lines then were straight. Not until generations later did the beautiful curves and spirals of Moko supersede the old straight mokokuri. For the cause of all great revolutions — cherchez la femme. Long before tho days of Helen, or Cleopatra, lived Niwarcka, wife of Mataroa. One day Mataroa grew angry and struck her. She, being a woman of spirit, promptly left him and sought her father, Uetonga, in To Reinga, the shades below. Then Mataroa, after the manner of husbands, felt lonesome and sad. He hastened after her and besought her to return with him to. the upper world. Of course she forgave him (what woman would not?) and agreed to all he asked. Before their departure, Uetonga, to celebrate the reconciliation, charmed away the rigid mokokuri from tho face of his son-in-law and imposed instead tho graceful scrolls and curves which have ever since adorned the visages of great chiefs and warriors. The earliest authentic mention of Moko was made by Captain Cook in 1770. He speaks of it as “a curious subject of speculation,” and then says very little more about it. It is to his associate, Joseph Banks, that wo owe our first knowledge of Moko. His exact and lengthy descriptions are now of untold value. Dairies writes with keen admiration of “ the elegance and justice of the figures traced, which upon the face are always different spirals . . . all finished with a masterly taste and execution : for of a hundred, which on first sight would be judged to be exactly alike, no two, on close examination, prove alike. Their wild imagination scorns to copy, as appears in almost all their works,” All writers will be found in agreement as to tho wonderful precision and originality shown in the execution of Moko. From Banks in 1770 to Lord Avebury in 1008 the verdict is unanimous that “of all Polynesian tatuing, tho most beautiful is that of the New Zealander, tatued in spiral lines.” This authority—better known as Sir John Lubbock—adds : “ Tho process is an extremely painful one . . . but to shrink from it, or to show any sign of suffering while undergoing the operation, is considered unmanly.” Here Ijord Avebury discloses the secret which made an elaborate moko a matter for fiercest pride to its possessor. The pain endured was indescribable; and the endurance of it, with neither shrinking nor sound, was evident proof of the indubitable courage and fortitude of the bearer. According to Maori ruie, Moko was never commenced upon any but an adult. At about the age of twenty the operation began upon the young men. A necessary preliminary was the careful removal of every hair from tho face, which might later interfere with the artistic effect; so that Maori young gentle-, men, instead of fondly smoothing tho newly-arrived down upon their lips, might have been discovered employing leisure momenta in removing tho hairs, one by one, with the aid of a pair of mussel shells. These gave place to iron as soon as it was to be kid, and a pair of fine steel tweezers hanging by a cord round the aspirant's neck was quite a usual part of a Maori young gentleman’s “get-up.” Then camo the Hacing, with charcoal or red ochre, of the lines intended for incision. Here, the originality of tho artist had its chance. The accuracy of the design thus assured, scroll and curve were cut, inch by inch, upon the quivering human parchment. “In the old days,” writes Robley, “the patient, with tho aid of a gourd of water, as in a mirror, could view the intended scheme of work, approve the pattern traced, and, later, witness its progress,” No verbal descriptions of the designs can do them justice. These marvellously intricate decorations were composed of an artistic combination of seven simple primitive patterns. The tendency of art v towards elaboration. These complex symmetrical designs are the result of centuries of development; they attained perfection early iu the last century, and since then Moko has been falling away. It is said that were living, within recent pears, in the neighborhood of Golac Bay, certafr natives bearing the straight T(p— of primitive mokokun. If this be , Aw-artist-must mrely have been

a pronounced reactionary, and the tatu a striking example of rapid decadence. In early times the instruments used were few and simple, made of tho wingbones of sea birds and of flint and wood. A handful of flax, to wipe away the springing blood, completed tho equipment. Native instruments were in time discarded for iron ones, which, being capable of taking a much sharper point and edge, made ii clearer, finer incision. The deep and broad furrow, resulting from the greater contusion produced by the primitive instruments, determines tho early period of tho Moko. Old writers vary in their description of the coloring matter, and as to the method of its introduction. Carbonised kauri gum, fern root, and vegetable caterpillars are some of the pigments named. Uolonso says “they used various kinds of charcoal, both animal and vegetable, from various peculiar sources, manufactured in a highly curious manner with much lalx>r and skill.” Taylor supplies details as to sources and processes which certainly justify Colenso’s redundancy of adjectives. As* to how it was introduced into tho skin, reports differ. Some say that the instruments were just dipped into it; others, that flax was moistened with tho mixture and drawn over the incisions; others, again, that the compound was used dry and powdered over the lines. Gunpowder, when available, tcok tho place of the charcoal abominations previously used. The operator was generally a tohunga, or Maori priest. Skill in carving on wood or. flesh was apparently a requisite for tho priestly office Upon his good-will and dexterity seems to have depended, in part, the amount of pain to be endured. To encourage the patient, the operator sang songs to him. Some of these songs have been collected and translated. They exhort tho patient manfully to endure, and assure him of the magnificence, beauty, and terribleness of his aspect when his Moko shall bo completed. But their chief burthen is a reminder of tho debt of gratitude which the patient owes to the artist. Now, if your medical adviser were to mention his little bill each time he visited you, it would go far towards dissipating any cheerfulness and courage you hoped to gain from his presence. Things were different with the tohunga. He had no fixed charges, and was dependent upon the liberality of his patron ; so naturally ho made the most of services rendered. His patient, by the way, was expected to feed him upon the best of everything during tho operation, and also to make him a bandsame present when it was compietcd. Little wonder that “Art was long” in the Moko process! It lasted for weeks, months, or year;-,, according to the amount of decoration desired. The operation could not proceed hastily; time, had to be allowed for fever and inflammation to subside Wo do not know if any sort of native antiseptic were used ; but, European ones not being possible, it is likely that the deaths winch occasionally followed Moko were the result of blood-poisoning. Nor is it surprising that llte patient did his best to keep the operator in a good temper; else it wae quite on tho cards that ho would become careless in his work, and leave the victim an object, for life, indelibly marked with a crooked Moko. When one sees a coarse or crooked Moko, it is safe to conclude that tho operator held well-founded suspicions as to an abnormal tendency towards economy on the part of his patron, and cut his Moko according to his pay. Alfred Domett’s lines from ‘ Ranolf and Amohia ’ are well worth quoting in this connection :

And finer, closer spirals of dark blue Were never seen than on his cheek’s tattoo; Fine as if engine-turned. Those cheeks declared No cost to fee the artist had been spared; That many : a - basket of good maize , had " -inade That craftsman careful how he tapped his blade; .. ■ - . • And many a greenstone .trinket had- been given To get tho chisel-flint so deftly driven. To our mind, thei reasons for undergoing all this torment and "expense were exceedingly inadequate. To render themselves more alluring and attractive to the gentler sex, and more terrible to behold in war, arc the motives assigned to tiffs passion for Moko. Nowadays we have so far scotched the devil of Fear that the grotosque causes a smile instead of a shudder, and ladies are less bloodthirsty in their requirements than of yore. So the reasons for Moko no longer hold good. Taylor tells us that the chiefs, being of a lighter j race, and having to fight side by side with slaves of a darker hue than themselves, darkened their "faces in order to appear of the same face. If tins be a fact, then Moko would seem to have been a case of "protective mimicry,” as well a» a method of sexual selection. < Women’s Moko wae a compawrirvelyiElight

t i affair, though curious exceptions have been reported. ' ?< To-have a husband the woman must have the lips’tatued,” so wrote Colenso; for these (esthetic savages held red lips to bo abhorrent, and blue ones to be the perfection of feminine beauty, v-o woman, eager to please her lord, lifted her lips anti dimpled chin for the fine bine tracery. Here is a single verse of a wellnigh interminable Moko song : - Lay thyself quietly down, 0 daughter (Boon it is done), That thy lips may be well tatued (’Tia quickly performed), For thy going to visit the young men’s horn es; Lest it be said: Whither indeed is this ugly woman going? As Moko destroyed the extreme sensitiveness of tho facial muscles, it gave that aspect of immobility so much coveted by all savage race-'; it conferred an appearance of dignity and maturity upon young men, and prevented old age carving wrinkles on the fa -.es of their elders, so that all chiefs appeare I to be living at the prime of life. Then certain lines were permitted only to chiefs, so Moko was a distinction of rank, marking off tho chief from the freCdman, and the freedman from the slave. According to some writers, tho greatest quantity of Moko implied the highest rank. Te Pehi, whose body was simply a masterpiece of Moko, naturally held this opinion very strongly. The admiration ho had enjoyed while in England on bis spirited quest after arms and ammunition caused him to regard himself as a connoisseur in Moko. Connoisseurs are quite safe in a civilised country; nobody minds them. But on To Pehi’s return to New Zealand ho carried it a bit too far. At a feast at the Kaiapoi pah. ho insulted a fellow-guest by saying that “his head was not worth cutting off and selling, its Moko wa’s so j oor.” This guest retaliated by instantly cutting off Te Pehi’s own proud head. Seldom have wo road of swifter and more appropriate vengeance befalling an art critic. History docs not say what eventually became of Te Pehi’s beautiful head. We can only wish that it were in the Hocken Wing. There is a consensus of opinion that Moko vfas a kind "of -uaori heraldry, each man carrying his primitive coat of arms upon his person and his name (according to To Pehi) between his eyebrows. A Maori one day, examining the seal of an English officer, noticed the arms engraved upon it, and inquired “if that was the Moko of his family?” Certain bits of Moko seem to have carried a tribal and others a personal significance. Each bit was symbolic, probably, to tho Maori. Each was given a significant name. Many of these names have been recovered through the efforts of comparatively recent research ; but it is to be feared Ik much of their significance is entirely 'c»i. With the need for signing European documents “ Moko signatures ” began. The first legal land conveyance appears to have originated the practice. Of a deed of purchase, in 1815, tho Rev. Samuel Marsden wrote: • “ The chief has signed the grant iu a manner extremely original. He has displayed tho ingenuity which is a characteristic of his countrymen in a minute and laborious copy of the fatu marks upon his own face. The Maori witness has given a signature which appears to bo a part of his face tatu or moko." Most of tin Maori signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi consist of a drawing of individual bits of Moko, followed by a mark—X. Several fine examples of these earliest “moko signautres,” and a copy of tho Treaty of Waitangi, may he seen in the Hocken collection.