TITOKO-WARU.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 August 1925, Page 11

TITOKO-WARU.

GREAT TARANAKI- WARRIOR 7 ::

NOT A CHIEF BY BIRTH.

To decide disputed 'argument .1 ivn.s asked to .settle two questions, viz., .Was To toko-war u, the Taranaki warrior who fought against ' u.s in the inter “sixties,” «■ chief; and, Was he a cannibal? As the present is in remanns-

“cent mood, bet ore wo pass out and the ■things wo know bo lost to history, .and •sus, turther, the answers introduce tac'boi’s and incidents perhaps unknown to tho generation with .its feet upon the thressel ,we agreed that the answers be Written for the benefit of other cjue.stionaires (writes W. 8., of Otorohanga, in the New Zealand Heiv.LdJ. Was 'Titokowaru (tho eighth net-pole) a ■chief-' By rank of birth, no; he was a '“toa,” a'.term implying several attrihates, .as: a male; one who has distinguished himself by his valour in 'battle ; one who has vanquished in single combat, .a warrior of great repute. These are distinctions a slave might earn, 'and thereby gain a mamimission on the spot with the appellative of “toa.” But Titoko was no 'slave; he was a common tribesman, •with ia genius for war. It was said of him, “i moemoeatia ana mataunga” (lias wisdom caane to him in dreams), that is, he had a spiritual prevision of how to act. This was 'discovered when he suggested a hazardous alternative, revealed to him in dreams, to relievo the pressure from our troops by a divemion which turned out a phenomenal success; this, and a personal bravery, at once promoted him to tho rank of “toa.”

■ He was no more a chief by rank than Te ivooti who “dreamed” how the 'Hiauhau prisoners miglit escape from tho Obiitbami Islands; and because that succeeded beyond bis dream**, lie acquired a kudos which his tribesmen translated into “leader,” .and the white it nan into “chief.” When in aftermonths of defeat he sought the protection of the Maniapoto .at Te Kuiti, land it was granted, Rewi and his co'liobles hesitated three days before they crossed over and touched noses, and* thus publicly recognised the rank his people had endowed him with. Out of gratitude for that recognition, he got "his followers to present the large carved meeting-houses at Te Kuiti lor 'a memorial of that day. i A further evidence that Te Ivooti. wasi no chief by rank of 'birth, was this. ■No real chiefs among the prisoners on | tho Chatham,s were asked by the authorities to work at redoubt or village building, or were licensed out as labourers "at surrounding sheep stations, for which those that .applied were paid 'current rates —«aml splendid workers those chaps were. No chiefs applied; they would have disdained the oflei. ‘But To Ivooti applied, and ho got the ‘job of “fleece-bo,” fleece picker at our shearing shed, where his constant and 'loud Scripture exposition on tho shearing floor among the shearers, his co‘prisonens, became so burdensome that tliev gave him tho opprobrious names of “Kailiau” (wind-eater) and “Rupabu” (noisy nuisance), with coar.se ad'moni.tio.ns to “shut up”—.terms, bad be been only a minor chief, no tribesman Would have flung at him. TitokoWarn was an war-chief, a rank apart from hereditary lordship of a clan. Mis authority only lasted during war; but, Ry reason otf lu»s proAvoss, eis.t£iiblish, a periiinnenre.' Yet his autnoiitv never overshadowed that of the tribal chief in domestic or land policies. Unlike To Konti, Titokowaru had no vocal gifts .to charm and sway a crowd; bo never spoke unless fie had a.t thought-out plan, from which he chose i

the ■salient's delivered in harsh .sentences, which, issuing from a oneeyed, forbidding face, nevertheless iu'.spired his soldiers with a fidelity 'voithy of a cause other than marauding lawlessness.

I saw hii+i at P>arih.a.ka after peace, and tried to convense with this ugly autocrat, but, whereas both Te Wluci and Tohu were social get-at-ables, Titoko fixed his solitary eye on .some distant cloudifex, and by grunted, detached replies, warded oft' all efforts to get beneath his mental skin. My best informant was Panama, one of Titoko’s bushranging bodyguards, a 'simple fellow, who, now that tlie wai was over, discoursed of their adventures with an abandon that impressed one with their .truth; recounting ad its phases —where they bested us, and by what means; where we bested them, and why—with impartial lucidity. For such was the .ancient custom ol Maori war narrators; not, as with us, decrying and distorting an enemy by comKt pictures of monstrous deformities, .and subjecting a foe’s successes to critiques that implied inhuman brutalities. It was, per contra, his ambition to extol the prowess of his foe, who, when vanquished, added hisy renown to that of the vanquisher. Thus, tho more obstinate and furious the combat the more brilliant the glory of the vanquisher when the foe lay at his feet! Ahould he, on the other hand, be vanquished, will not his name be in the list of those who exalted has an-

tagonist? Better die on the field where men contend than end his days a toothless, sightless village incubus! Thin my informant followed the custom ol his race: no ostentatious ego-vaunt, merely embellishments of voice and gesture proper to visualise each feint, each blow, each everything. lit was from Pa i ram a I sought confin matin n or denial of the .rumour that Titokowaru and .his party during tlieii distresses ate the rlesh of the ►settlers and cithers they had killed. it was a delicate enquiry, and had to be oaoDtiou-sly attacked. “ft is said that you endured privation of the bowels in the matter of kiiuuki (flesh relish); was that .so?’’ Unstudiedly came his reply—“Til nohea te kore ltinaki i te maba o te poaka o waeuga tahora?” (Tut! whence should come a scarcity of relish among the abundance of pigs in the wilds?) “Then you ate no human flesh?” Without hesitation came an indigant: “Kore raws.!” (absolutely, no!) I believed him. I believe him still; hut — A. white man (whose name, because of his Jiving children, .1. .shall not disclose), who lived among tho Maoris with a native wife, told me with great fervour that the rumour was correct; that himself had seen it put up in “patua” (bark eases), as bua.hua (flesh preserved in its own fat) ; that it was so distributed among inland relatives. “What did iit look like?” “O, just like ordinary pork.” “Might it not have been pork, sent from districts of aibundnace to folk who had none?” “Well, when I smelt at it someone cried: “Kapai! hongia., ko to whanaunga.” (“That’s light, smell at your relative!) Then I knew, and ordered it aaviay from our house. “But,” I said, “that denotes nothing; that is merely a rebuke of one who transgrease* the Maori ethic not to sniff at food in the presence of the donor.” “Aye; mebbe so. I dunno. Looked o ine Like human flesh after what they raid!” So rumour spreads!