LAST OF HIS LINE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 31 January 1929, Page 4

LAST OF HIS LINE.

DEATH OF MAORI TOHUNGA. OLD CUSTOMS REVIVED. One of the few remaining links that bind together the Maori of the present to the ancient code or his ancestors was severed on the 29th. inst. at Normanby in the death of Poitutu. Poitutu’s ancestry goes back over a long line of tohungas (priests). Before entering the “whare maira” (house of sorcery), Poitutu made a careful study of the Scriptures, and like many of his cult was able to quote them from memory from cover to cover. He was christened Warilii Rimene after two early Wesleyan ministers, Wallace and Reimensehneider, about 75 years ago, and adopted the name Poitutu after his studies as a Maori tohunga had been completed. His father before him was one of the most influential tohungas on the west coast of the North Island, and it was from him that Poitutu and his three brothers received their early tuition in the uses of native herbs as medicines. In the year 1879 Poitutu was among those who took an active part in the objections to the confiscation of Taranaki lands by breaking down the fence® and destroying the survey pegs. In the latter part of the same year he with others was arrested and deported to various parts of New Zealand. Poitutu was among those sent to Otago, and when relating incidents of his imprisonment to the writer a few weeks prior to his death mentioned incidents in the march over the hills from Dunedin to the' Otago Heads. MEMORIES OF YOUTH.

He was then, he stated, a young man of about 35, and-, being more active than the older men, he with others would, on reaching the summit of a hill, line up and execute a war dance. This at first almost caused a panic among the few warders in charge. It meant, said Poitutu, that if they had any thought of escape they could easily have got away. A year lately-in June, 1880, Poitutu was released and returned with the rest to Parihaka, where, in 1881, under Captain Bryce, the -troops sacked the pa and destroyed their houses. Poitutu was then associated with Tohu-kakahi, who with Te Whiti were the leaders of the Te Whiti and Tohu movement. “At the sacking of Parihaka, ” said Poitutu, “we stood by,’ not lifting a hand in the defence of our homes. Strange ways were the methods used in those days to enforce Pakeha law. Whatever was gained by the destruction of our homes we do not know.” PREMONITION OF DEATH.

The old man died like all those in whom is embedded the old. laws of Maori superstition. Asking for a Bible, he called for hi® calabash, which icontained, tapued water, “wai tohi.” Sprinkling it upon those present, Air Tonga Awhikau being one, he chanted an incantation that his spirit might be guided to those' long since gone to the Reinga. Opening a Bible, he read a verse, the effect of which was that ; “when the fruit has ripened the husk is tin-own away.” Then, like all others of his kind, he turned towards Mt. Egmont and bade farewell to the landmark of the Tribe. . With a few whispered word® he mentioned that his only regret was that, now a settlement had been made for the cause for which he had suffered imprisonment (the confiscation of this tribal lands) he would not be able to participate in the final proceedings at Waitara in, March. A few minutes later, in the earlv hours of the morning, the spirit of Poitutu, a man well respected by both Pakehas and Maoris, was winging its wav to the Reinga, the Spiritland of his fathers.

Maoris are gathered at Keteraarae from all parts of the district. The Rev. R. Had’don conducts the burial service at the Maori Cemetery, Ketemarae, to-day.