TE KOOTI

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11488, 16 November 1931, Page 4

TE KOOTI

PRIEST AND WARRIORXJ3y Edward Nepia. Auckland Ui><V vorsity). , j Sixty-throe years 'Hava ©apse! since that morn when l© Kgoii avenged what he held to be a in justice done to him f , mo n* tho 10, 1.865, lie swooped flo £" defenceless settlors in FPv n >ii n mJ and massacred • them m cokl blocKi When one reads ami hears of of Shis grim Whrnor, one canmrt help admiring the tenacity of pur pose, and the" craft and. cunning. employed by him in attnin.ng his ends. His life depicts a man hW securing utu (payment) f r « . held i/ho wrongful banishment arid exile in the Chathami Islands. Thm anpears to he the gmdmg principle all his decisions. Such is ' « h , no tor of 'the man. But what or hl U ! the pale dawn of July 10 the little schooner Rifleman stole W anchor at Whareongaonga a ptnalJ rove a little to the south, ©f A oung ■Nick’s Head. Her crew, was composed of a hand of Afaon s wbodmd seized her in order 1o escape Ron the Chatham Islands. At their h< ? a » was Te Kooti, who, a week previously, had instigated the successful attack on the vessel. Later, as menfioned above, Ins name ivas strike fear in the hearts of settler* and natives far and wide . The voyage had been full of incident, To propitiate Tnngaroa, the God of the Ocean, his own uncle had keen cast overboard, when a. storm arose. This act had ensured a *ir wind, and the. short voyage ban brought the little hand hack to tho mainland without further incident, Smarting under tho feeling of resentment, To Kooti climbed"!he headland •where lie vowed that the pakeha should pay dearly ior the unjus treatment, meted out to him. Nov was to he fulfilled the old phopiiecv delivered to I lie Ngatikahungunu people by Toiroa. the greatest tohunga of nil time. To Te Rangi Fatal. Te Kooti’s father, the old man said. "Your wife shall bear a child whose fame shall spread throughout the land for good or for evil. When he is born, you will christen him ‘Tiwba-tiwha-te-Po (Dark is ’he Night)’.” The son was born as Untold, and was named in accordance with the tohunga’s orders. Tradition \says that on the preceding the escape of Te Kooti from the Chathanis, Toiroa, now aged and bent, sent a certain Toheriri, who only recently died, to Vhareongaonga. He was instructed that on a certain day “a. short man will’ appear, whose name is Rikirangi. Give him this tokotoko (walking stick).” To make such a gift wain fact to bestow upon him the mami of the ancient bolnfnga, /Toheriri did as he was hidden, ancf on the clay named, Te Kooti Rikirangi appeared and duly received the stick. The acceptance, of such a gilt immediately gave him prestige and power, which”, otherwise, he would not have attained in the tribe.

His career, subsequently, has been told by many writers, most of whom have omitted to mention the wonderful power (he wielded nvej- his followers through religious or superstitious sway. The success he attained lie attributed to the fact that by supernatural means lie could anticipate the movements of his opponents. Ngntapa. Ins stronghold in the Poverty Bay district, is perhaps a most striking example of the power lie exerted, tie was surrounded by foes, and escape seemed impossible. Jn answer to inquiries. To Kooti promised to lead bis people out of the pn. “Where the rainbow ends, there will he the way of oseape,” b 0 said. At eventide came h rainbow, the end of which rested upon the cliff, a sheer drop, at tho rear of the pn. In the evening, just as the lighr was failng, the people threw themselves down the cliff and escaped into the bush. True to tradition, Te Kooti and his lieutenants, under the cover of night, were the last to leave the pa. To-day an old woman still lives who tells the tale that, after wandering for two days in file bush, all who escaped met again at a prearranged spot. Later, when the pardon was given him at Manga-a-rougo. near Kihikihi, To Kooti said: “I accept the peace, but you will be the first to break it.” fiix years later, lie wa s arrested for attempting to visit Gisborne. Before the Tnrawera eruption oecurred, Te Kooti sent one of bis followers, t-o warn the old Tohunga Kepa-te-R.angi-puawhe, at AYairon. of the impending disaster. In vain the man pleaded. The warning .sent passed unheeded. Next- morning the pa was destroyed by the eruption. Where To” Kooti is buried remains a mystery. Recently, attempts have, been made to locate bis remains, but without success. To-day, when time tempers onr feelings and softens the losses of the wars, it should he borne in mind that- To Kooti, plriest- and warrior, with all his faults and crimes, wa s but the product of what he believed to be injustice and accepted prophecy.