IN ANCIENT MAORI LAND.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 3, Issue 160, 25 December 1895, Page 3

IN ANCIENT MAORI LAND.

Notes collected from the descendants OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF the Raxoitaiki Valley and theUrewera Country, and from the Mataati'a Tribes. Br ELSDON BEST. Given by members of the Np:»ti-?>lana-wa. Ngati-Whare, Tuhoe, Ngati-Apa, \<r:iti-Awa. Ngati-'Hainua e.nd Patul,eiiheu Tribes. •' Kohikoma xga maramara o MataATDA." JCHAPTER VI. \Conlinucd.) \xcient Wars—The Maori Hades — Traditions—The Phallic Symbol. AVars of Our Ancestors. (Ngati-Awa.) One of the great bibors of our ancestors was the destruction of taniwha. Tute-maunga-roa was a huge dragon that, lived on the trail to Taupo and parties of men travelling in that direction were destroyed 'by it. Then Te Uru-waewae, an ancestor of mine, went to that district and slew the monster that had destroyed so many of the descendants of Tuwharetoa, And Mawake-hore gave his daughter TeMaunga-kohu as a wife for Te Uruwaewae— and this is my descent from them : Te Uiut-waewae Tf. Matjnoaiconu : To Piki-tu-o-'Kehua, Te Uruwaea, Patu-pnkohu, Kai-whaknpae, Te Pori-o-tcrangi, Patu-pakeke, Tapuikn, and Tumutara Pio. (Born about 1814). huai-moko roa was another taniwlm that was destroyed by the sons of Tuwharetoa, and the cave where that dread creature was killed may ptill be seen by man. This great feat was accomplished as an aetof bravado on account of the evil words of Rangi--f 11 and Tangaroa towards Tauno-nui-a-Tia. Their evil act was the causo of Taupo being acquired by Tuwharetoa. For Taupo belonged to another people, to Ngati-kurnpoto and Ngatiilotu, a nomadic people they were, fl nd not like the Maransjaranga who were a people long resident in the land, and the chiefs were Te Ngararawhakawa and Te Rakau-pango. These ancient tribes covered the whole land. There was another tribe who were attacked by the sons of Tuwharetoa, a tribe which canw to attack Tu-te-wero hut was defeated by the son of Maruka and the survivors fled. Then the sons of Tuwharetoa returned covered with glory. And Mawake" hore and the sons of Tuwharetoa at' tacked the Ngati-Tuoi at their place, Te Ara-ruru, and defeated them Then cried the Ngati-Tuoi:—" A-ha-ha! Piri noa, patu noa. Why do these tribes from afar come here to destrov us? Why dove slay the NgaiTuoi? ' And we still remember this say* ing of the Tuoi: "Piri noa, patu noa." That tribe, or the r< mnant thereof, became mixed with our ancestors, but. •their story has been preserved and disclosed in your pakeha Land Courts, as also that of Te ftlarangaranga. But I do not believe that the Marangaranga were a people given to war and fighting. Still I have no great knowledge of the ancient people of the land—e kore au e aro ki tena. If it were a matter of fraeing the history of our Ilawaikian ancestors, then indeed would it be clear to me. There was no cause (take) for a war between Ngati-Tuoi and Te Marangaranga. If they fought, why do we not know the take of the war? It wns not so. The. abiding word of Ngati-Tuoi and Te Kawerau and Te Parauhe-vnaemae—-a single expression was theirs—"A ha ha ! riri noa, patu noa." There is no take for war in such words. Friend ! There is one kind of pakeha dog that has the knowledge of 6heep, but if a common or evil dog goes among those sheep, they do not resist him—even so was it with the Tuoi and the multitude of ancient •people of this land. Burial. Karnkia were used when carrying the dead to the caves where frhev were laid. The entrances to these caves were closed with slabs of stone so that no man might find them. It is <">nly the tohunga who recites the incantation as he goes along. This is the karakia*i- " He kimi'hanga, he ratsgahautanga Ka kimiki hea? Ka kimi ki uta Ka kimi ki hea? Ka kimi ki tai Ka kimi kite po Ka waere ma Kere-ta, ka waere ma kere-ti Ka kitea mai te hau o te tipua Te hau c te taw hi to -mai te rangi tu Kei te kahui mate i te po Kei to kahui ora i to ao nei Tena ka kitea koe ki tua Ka kitea koe kite wai ao Kite ao marama." ; Death.—The Maori Hatoes. Tins relates to death and the final abode of the spirit of man. The spirit, cf the dead travels far away to the jjorth until it arrives at the ' Spirit's heaping Place,' at fhe summit of the ' r c*t cliff, nrvd tliere the spirit halts ®d laments, wailing for the World V'ight left behind and lacerating ite'f sorely, for on the summit of that head cliff there lies a heap of >ataf for the iibo of passing souls, 'id having bewailed the loss of this °rld the spirit descends the cliff by ' vine that lvangs down from the And then the spirit moves Prayer—lncantation. Flint or obsidian —used for cutting ••••

[ onward and stands upon the rock | which stands at the entrance to the ' TJeingOj the Hades of' the Maori peoj pie. And from the entrance to the I lower world thero comes a wailing sound. Then the waters are exhaled from -below and recede, the great masses of seaweed are swirled aside, and the way is open, and the spirit, passing onwards, stands in the other world. And in that world a great light appears, and there is no darkness, it is even like unto the Ao-Ma-rama.tf And the spirit, passing on. comes to a certuiu wall and if the spirit should pass over the wall it will return to this world, hut should it enter beneath that wall, then has it gone from this world for ever. And proceeding onwards, the spirit encounters those who have gone before j liiin—the ancestors and parents of the ! people of this world. A long wail of i greeting is exchanged, and should food be offered to the newly arrived spirit and eaten by it, then is it surely doomed to remain in the Keinga for all time. There are len different heavens or worlds in the Reinga, from the first world to the tenth world or heaven—the final resting place of spirits.