CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14982, 30 April 1909, Page 6

CURRENT TOPICS.

In a booklet which will ho issued shortly by tho Department of Tourist and Health Resorts, Mr J. Cowan has collected a number of interesting facts concerning tho Marlborough Sounds and Nelson. One of the most enjoyable chapters of the little work .deals with a new legend of Pelorus Jack, which was told to Mr Cowan by Kipa Hemi Whero, of Ohoka, Pelorus Sound, last year. The writer says that the strange cetacean, is more celebrated among the Maoris of the district than he is among the white visitors who go to gaze at him. The Natives have a veneration for him as a “ taniwha,” or ocean god, and they possess long and interesting legends as to his habits and history. Ho is a benevolent sea-deity of the NgatiKuia tribe, tho remnant of which lives near tho entrance to Pelorus Sound, and Kipa, tho teller of the story, who is an old chief, in claiming tho fish as his personal taniwha, tells long and circumstantial tribal traditions concerning him. Kipa is regarded as the last of the old historians, and his account of Pelorus Jack, or “Kaikai-a-waro,” as lie calls him, goes back for eleven generations, or about two hundred and seventy-five years. “Bear in mind,” says the historian, “ that this is no common creature of the ocean. My ancestors were piloted on their canoe voyages by him, and many were saved from death by him. Ho has a very great ‘ mana-tapu.’ ” The story goes that Kipa is descended from Kupo, the great navigator who crossed the Pacific, and who was the first, so far as history goes, to explore Cook Strait and its shores. Kupe’e descendants lived on tho north shore of the strait until about eleven generations ago, and then one of them crossed to the south, his canoe being Jed by tho god-fish Kaikai-a-waro. As the canoo crew paddled along, tho godfisli came rolling along with them, sometimes shooting ahead and .sometimes .swimming beside them, and so ho led the canoes until thoy were right inside the sound. Pelorus Jack went on and on until ho came to the.place where Havelock now stands, and there he burrowed out the lower part of the channel where the Pelorus River flows, in an effort to .find a rvay to the sea on tho other side. The windings of tho river at that spot are ascribed to tho efforts made by the god-fish. Then the pilot returned to the mouth of the sound and made a home in a cave there, from which ho could be summoned by incantations when required. He was always revered by the people, and when they went out to fish they would invariably throw him some of the catch as an offering. He was a guide for tho canoes, and led thorn round tho different inlets and as far as Nelson. Ho used to play around the bows, just as he does to-day with tho steamers and launches.

I'ELORUS JACK.

The old Maori has many wonderful stories to tell of the deeds that Pelorus Jack has performed for his tribe, and Mr Cowan lias secured some highly interesting and entertaining tales of the creature. One of the most remarkable is entitled “ Hinepoupou’s Great Swim,” and is descriptive of how a chieftaincy swam, the strait, led by Kailcai-a-waro. Hinepoupou was married to a chief who lived on D’Urville Island, and thoy went on a canoe journey to Kapiti Island, fifty miles away. The chief was desirous of taking a now wife, and deceitfully abandoned Hinepoupou at the south end of Kapiti, and set off for home again with his men. On his return he said that the party had been attacked, and that Hine-

A WO.NDEKI’tH, LEGEND.

poupou had been killed. The doBerted wife meanwhile was sorrowing on. the shore, and wondering how she could cross the dreaded sea and reach her friends again. She had no canoe, and she was afraid to venture far inland for fear a hostile tribe might capture her. At last she resolved in her desperation to swim the sea to the island of Arapawa, about thirty milos to tho south-west. Though the swim was far beyond human endurance, she was an Ariki-taniwha, and could summon the sea-gods to her aid. Having chanted an invocation, she threw herself into the sea and struck out for the island. “ This very fish whom you pakehas call ‘ Pelorus Jack,’ ” tho story continues. “ bore her up in her dire need. Ho hoard her cry far across the sea, and, leaving his ocean cave, he sped like a darted spear to his ehieftainess’s succour. Far out in the sea he found her, and, bearing her up and piloting her, he brought her in safety across tho swelling seas, and to Arapawa Island, and thence she rejoined her people.” The old Maori "proves” his tale by calling attention to two rocks which stand at the spot where the chieftainess dived. They are, he says, her dogs, which were 1 afraid to follow, and were left howling on the beach and were turned to stone. Ever since then the guardian of the tribe has watched over his people and has been their pilot when they go out to sea. For a long time after the white men came he would not come from his cave, but tho persons on the ships threw out meat and so he learned to follow the steamers. The old man is very positive in his belief that the Pelorus Jack of to-day is the self-same fish of ancient days. “ Should any persons be ignorant of the fact that this fish was seen when the mouth of Pelorus Sound was reached,” he says in conclusion of his story, “let me tell them that he was seen there by my forefathers. It was my tribe who were the rangatiras that owned, this fish, down from my ancestors to me and my people.”

The application of the deposed Sultan’s vast fortune of £50,000,000 to the rehabilitation of the Turkish finances may appear to be a rather ruthless proceeding from Abdul Hamid’s standpoint. The Sultan’s financial affairs, however, have been causing much uneasiness in the Turkish Parliament for some months past, and so long ago as the end of February his Majesty was being denounced as the head of a gigantic system of “graft” which had been flourishing in Turkey for years. The treasury was empty, and the finances of the country were in a dreadful tangle, while the men who had enriched themselves through the miegovernment of the empire were living in luxury and idleness. A young deputy who had the temerity to ask why the treasures of the nation had been given away as presents was very emphatically hissed down in the Ottoman Parliament, but this did not prevent him declaring that the Sultan had squeezed millions of pounds out of the people for investment in foreign banks. “ Since nation and sovereign are now one,” the deputy insisted, “ tho sovereign should present to the people his lands, his palaces and his banking accounts.” Later on the Sultan’s name was mentioned in connection with the Yildiz bazaar, which was promoted, with Abdul Hamid as honorary president, to assist the orphans of the soldiers who fell in the last war against Greece. The receipts amounted to £250,000, but not a single piastre reached the unfortunate orphans. One of the deputies remarked plaintively that all tho money had been “ stolen and squandered,” but, unfortunately, nobody dared to protest. Th'e responsibility lay with the highest circles, and finally it was decided to question the Grand Vizier .on the matter, but meanwhile evidence was coming to light showing that thei Sultan was what would be described in America as. a “common grafter.” One of his most startling operations was in connection with tho Hedjaz railway. The railway was built to facilitate the pilgrimage to Mecca, and, being regarded as a religious enterprise, it was financed by the Moslems of India, Java and many other Mohammedan countries. Speaking during February in the name of tho Grand Vizier, Ziliny Pasha, the director-general of tho railway, told the Ottoman Parliament the result of this great -panMoslem effort. It was a shameful disclosure. The railway company admitted that it had received 3,799,000 Turkish pounds, though the sum may have been much larger, as no indication was given of the amount of money obtained from India and other distant Moslem countries. It had spent 2,717,000 pounds on the line and 300,000 pounds on material, ivhilo some 800,000 pounds had disappeared. The exposure naturally left a bad impression upon the Parliament, which was face to face with the problem of dealing with a sovereign who promoted bazaars for soldiers’ orphans and raised funds for religious railways and then made off with the money. Apparently it lias now been solved.

Abdul' hamid’s FORTUNE.