IN ANCIENT MAORILAND.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 181, 20 May 1896, Page 3

IN ANCIENT MAORILAND.

. tF3 collected froii The descen- , XTS OF THE ABORIGINAL PEOPLE OF '■MEEASUITAIKIYALLEYand theUREv'KK.V CoU.VrjtY, AND FROM TIIF. MaTA-Vll-.Y TiULES. By ELSDON PEST. riven by irembars of the Ng -ti-Mana-X"v.ii-Wluire, Tuiioe, Ngati-Ap.-'■ti-Aw.t, Ng-iti-HamUi 1 , and P;uujjliheu T -bes. CHAPTER X. —(Continued.) Conclusion. Xlie foregoing notes have been written,in a somewhat disjointed manner . ,„1 will not, 1 fear me, possess much interest for the general reader, but (U ch as they are will help to further tile work of collecting the fragments „[ Jlataatua. I have not sufficient knowledge of the history and traditions of the tribes of this district to put toretlier any connected account, but think it well to place on record these [ e( p notes for the benefit of others laboring in the field. When noting the wonderful admin* went of Human : 'ulture within llie past century, the rapid spreading ol the Teutonic races in all quarters o ftlie earth, the wholet-ale annihilation of Inferior Man—thea is borne in on us the knowledge that the time j s nut far distant when this most ancient Earth shall see the last of her first born children give place to Teuton or to Slav, and Primitive Man shall be no more. When that time shall come, when the legends, and history, and songs, and vocabularies of uncultured man shall no longer be obtainable save in libraries, then also will it surely come to nass that these matters will bo viewid iu their right light as to the lesson that they contain. And men shall gs y—Why is it that our accounts of I'iimative Man are so meagre—Why did our fa tilers not labour more fully? And wherefore we do well to place on record all obtainable matter re- < aiding the origin and di.-tribution 4 races, their languages, traditions, and history. Strictly local as many of tLese crude traditions are, yet shall they find a place in the History of the Maori, and seive to illustrate the customs of that singular race which for so many centuries has been wandering—"On from island unto island At the gateways of the day," As for those men of knowledge who have given me the traditionary matter contained in these articles— this is a word to them from one who, although i ignorant ot their ancient history andof the truly wonderful teachings of their mythological system although a member of an intrusive and aggressive race, has yet been ever treated with kindness by these kaumatuas, even with a dignified courtesy by the de-cendants <>f Toi and Tiwakawaka, of'l'angihaiuru and Wharepakau. For long houis and many evenings have they instructed me in the ancient lore of their race and the old-time chants of Maori-land. Over and again have they repeated long genealogies froni the period when the gods lived on the earth to the coming of the pakelia. With endless corrections and explanations have they drilled into the defec tive memory of their hearer—a memory rendered non-retentive by centuries of racial dependence on written lan-guage-the legends of the Creation, the (Jrigin of Man, the Cause of the Elements, the Whence of the Maori and the wars and loves of old. Right well do I appreciate the care and patience bestowed upon my education in these matters by those in whom I recognise the truly intellectual mind, which ever takes a keen pleasure in tracing the history of the past,, and dwells with quickening interest upon the achievements of those stalwart ancestors, who, in their frail open boats, explored half a world long centuries before our progenitors dare pass from the sifjhtof land. The Genesis and Mythology of the Polynesian world form a truly strange and interesting example of the mental power of a Neolithic people and also of the longevity of their race. Little inferior is it in mental grasp and nobility of expression to that wonderful Story that has come down to us through the changing ages from the far away Valley where dwelt the preSemitic Accadians, where Darius, and Alexander, and Cambyses, with other old-time heroes marched and fought; and hoary nation" of antiquity lived out their long-drawn lives, in a land that was even then ancient beyond computation. To those who have studied the ancient lore of the Semitic, Turanian and and Hellenic races, no word need here he said as to the strange resemblance that exists between the Polynesian folk-lore and Cosmogony, nnd those of the people who gave U6 the singular legends disclosed by the older cuneiform inscriptions cf Clialdea Far away i--the dim pa-t, away beyond the' birth-time of the Vedas a..d 'he great Aryan separation—the ancestor of the Maori lived in the Crad.e '•f the World —and knew not his destiny. Far and wide over the surface of the earth has he wandered and tony lands have known him from Africa s eastern isle across the great Ocean of Kiwa to the shores of Ameriever urged on by love of advent,jre and maritime daring, by want nnd to fulfil bis allotted task in makhistory. Let not the reader of these few rough notes and translations imagine 'hat the fragments of Mataatua are Jet collected. It is not so. The foreE'jing items, which have been hurrieu- I

ly put together, are but as a single fragment of that sacred vessel—but as a few chips of the taumaau or tata. And the rauawa, and the ihu and the riu and the towering whakarei are yet unrepresented. Por abler pens than mine remains the task of gathering in the scattered relics of the daring Polynesian Argonauts who adventured these rough seas and explored the Great White World while yet th~ Americas were unknown to our fathers. But the collecting of these most interesting and instructive legends must be done quickly, for the few kaumatua who yet possess the kura-huna are fast passing from us—verily their feeble hands already grasp the sacred pohutukawa by which the spirit of the Maori descends to the World of Darkness. It must be done tO'-day, for, behold ! The dawn of the coming day of their annihilation is already breaking across the eastern skies, and the old, old trail to Te Jieinga will soon be traversed by the Last of the Tohungas. And even before the grass grows over that sacred Trail, must those whc possess the love of knowledge, the desire to rescue the sacred lore of this fust vanishing Neolithic race from oblivion —labour full well in the field. Yet a little while and it will be too late. Another generation will look in Vi.in for these men of knowledge. It is we of to-day who must work. And then, when our old friends have gone on their lonely way, adown that narrowing Trail, and the " tarutaru of Tura" has descended upon us—we may look back upon this labour and say—lt was well done. If those who can read the lesson which is writ for all, should fall into lino and assist in this work—then it may come to pass that the long-lost remnants of Mataatua shall be recovered, that the rauawa shall be lashed on and the sacred figure-head attached, that the mast be erected and the sail spread, and with strangely formed paddles and carved balers, the men of old shall place themselves upon the taumanu, and then amid the deathlike silence of the people and the weird karakia of the tohungas—Mataatua shall again float upon the waters as of yore—and go forth upon the Great Ocean of Kiwa on yet another voyage of exploration in seaioli of the Hidden Land of Tane And even as that Hidden Land is not seen of human eyes, so shall tli6 new voyage of Mataatua be unknown to us. No chart shall mark her course, no vo3'ager across the Dark Sea shall hail her or look upon that strange bark. In the days of old she sailed bravely forth from Hawaiki to escape War and to find a new laud wherein her people might dwell in peace. But on her new Voyage shall she sail from the World of to a Land that is not known to our geographers and which is not bounded by parallels of latitude. She will sail over the dark waters of Te Keinga to escape from the great Law of Human Progress. For her people know full well that the Great White World is passing from them and will paddle silently and wearily onward in search of the " Living Waters of Tank." And %vherefore may all men know that herein lieth a Great Lest-on—if we will but accept it. And the only word that is left for ine to add to the foregoing is— Tex a! "KOHIKOIIJA NGA MARA.MARA 0 MATAATUA.'