CUSTOMS OF THE MAORI.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 13 December 1926, Page 3

CUSTOMS OF THE MAORI.

THEIR ANCIENT VOYAGES. Mr. P. R. Gardner, of Kamo, gave an interesting address to the Whan* garei. Rotary Club upon some of the customs of the Maori peopie. The speaker said the Maori people migrated southwards and absorbed, or became absorbed in other races to such an extent that they lost the habits and characteristics attachable to them when they dwelt in Iriihia, which Elsdon Best submits was India. Great controversies had arisen regarding whether he came to New Zealand in regular voyages or whether he arrived in a haphazard manner in storm driven vessels. There was no doubt in Mr. Gardner’s mind in regard to the matter, and he believed that fleets of regularly provisioned, and ably navigated, canoes brought them for the direct purpose of colonisation.

A point made by Mr. Gardner was that had the Maori not come to this country in a regular tide of migration they would have been absorbed, into the Morioiri race, which inhabited New Zealand before them, and become extinct with the deaths of the survivors at the Chatham Islands. It was highly probable that at the time of the migrations, the Pacific was dotted with many more islands than exist at the present time. Indeed Frank Bullen has written in one of his hooks of shoal water met with two day’s sail north of New Zealand. There the crew of his ship caught large quantities of hapuka, and schnapper. That shoal at one time was probably an island, and one of the many resting places of the Maori during Ins voyages. Dealing with the class of canoe used by the early Maori when making sea. voyages, outrigger and double canoes were utilised, and Mr. Gardner cited Tasman as having recorded that he saw only double canoes. Some of these loraft have been described as being 80 feet long by a beam of six feet, 'and with two masts and sails. They were fitted with upper strakes oiving a depth of five feet, a<nd they were capable of carrying 45 paddleris on either side. The Maori navigators sailed by the stars, and by the sun, and they used a gourd in an ingenious manner in place of a. sextant. The voyage was made as far in one direction as was required for a right angle-turn to alter the course to the desired destination. When riding out storms, instead of sea anchors, use was made of heavy stones at stem and stem. According to tradition, the Maori people came from Irihia (Asia or India) to Hawiaiki, which has not been identified definitely but which was one of the Cook group. From there they spread over Polynesia, and reached New Zealand on many occasions between the tenth and sixteenth centuries. Hui to Rangiora is credited, according to Qook Islands tradition, with having reached the southern ice pack and having returned to those islands in about 700 A.D. Whangare. and Mangawai were two favourable starting places on the return journeys which the early Maori sailors made to Hawaiki. New Zealand w,a;s discovered by Kupe and Ngahui forty generations ago about 900 A.D. in the vessels Matahourua and Tawinrangi. tradition states that the wife of h-upe sighted land, and exclaimed Te Aa, meaning a cloud; hence, Ao-tea-roa, “the long white cloud,” the Maori name for New Zealand. The Maori believed in la, the supreme being, the parentless. He was not known to commoners, but only to high priests. Tu was the red god o war, and he was propitiated, by the custom of a war party slaying the first being they encountered, friend or foe. Not to do so they believed meant that certain defeat would follow. Tane was the god of the forest, Whim, the god of evil, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea. To Tangoroa was thrown the first fish caught, and to Pane the first bird ensnared. . - , Regular schools ot learning existed In Te Whare Wananga or the school of high-class knowledge, at which sons of the Ariki or chiefs. were taught, teaching began <at sunrise, and ceased when the sun was at its zenith. The sinking sun represented decay and death, so such matters as tribal lore old wars and exploits were taught a, separate building, known as Te Whare Kaupo. later in the day•A night black magic was.taught and it was dedicated to the god of evil. WW who overlooked “makutu and witch craft It was mentioned that Miatiu Kemene. of the Mangakahia, was powerful with “makutu. mused Fear of “tapu,” or sacred causeel fear and took the placei of police. Tapu requirements were never wittingly broken, as to do so meant death Different methods of making th “tapu” were described by the er, including the smearing of the of lan enemy on the body and themak f ;n rr a, river “tapu, in ™ w.v m Plenty by .whine a chiefs' da-URWer "The speaker «as accorded a. hearty vote of thanks for his address.