“PASSING MAORI MEMORIES”

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 246, 14 September 1935, Page 2

“PASSING MAORI MEMORIES”

Recorded by J.H.S. for the “Alanawatu Evening Standard.” Not Cave Dwellers. To James Cowan we are. indebted for the memory of this and many another interesting pnase of Maori life. Only twenty miles from Rotorua toward Tauranga, covered by dense forest amid rugged hill and valley scenes, are nine or more singular cave dwellings, said to be ten to fifteen generations old (about 300 years). these caves, cut m the rocky hillsides facing the steep gorge, lormed part of the great fortified pa, Te Pehn. Along the sheltered valley, according to the old warrior who gave the history, were many homes built of the great nikau fronds. On the summit of the hill overgrown with tangled forest, Mr Cowan and Mr T. E. Donne found the great parapets of Hie ancient fort, its age being indicated by the immense size of the trees since grown in the ditches and through the pa. A number of narrow door openings three to four feet high gave access to the ancient cave dwellings. Each cave measured thirteen feet by eight and about live feet high. The roofs were accurately rounded to dome shape. The marks of the stone axes with which the Maoris cut out the soft rock centuries ago are still plainly visible. Between the caves were small circular holes apparently for communication. The guide said they were “just like the Pakeha tereponi” (telephone). There are other cave dwellings in the vicinity!, and doubtless more will be found. They will some day be a great attraction to visitors, who are more keenly interested in ancient recoveries than in modern discoveries. The older the better. The tribe known as Tapu ika (sacred fish) occupied the cave hilj fortress, until, yielding to the Maori instinct of exercising their sacred Jaw of utu, they attacked a more powerful tribe and were almost annihilated. A cave dwelling is so unusual in Maori history, that the Ngatiapa people who remembered the tradition of Te Pehn said they, were originally secret store houses for food, the entrance being disguised by creepers. Eventually. they were converted into shelters for the sentries posted outside the palisades of the pa. A National Asset.

laranaki, especially in and around its chief town, New Plymouth, abounds in historic spots of Maori exploits which are not yet of sufficient antiquity to be embalmed in its familiar civic history, as is the case throughout Old England and Scotland. Some day we will become fully aware of the value pertaining to the ancient history and traditions as national and local assets. Koru Pa on the bank of the Oakura River near the bridge, only six, miles from New Plymouth, is a unique Maori stronghold. Earthworks fifteen feet high are completely faced with rocks taken from the bed of the stream. The whole pa is now shrouded in karaka, ngaio, karamu and stately tall re ware wa. The llewarcwa Pa at the mouth of the AVaiwhakaio, near New Plymouth. was occupied by 1000 men trained in the dual capacity of providers and fighters. They had once inflicted defeat upon the people of Koru, who about 130 years ago sought utu (compensation). This came in an unexpected way through the ltewarewu people taunting the Puke Tapu people, who were their own allies, in the attack on Koru, with being of low degree. Before dawn the Puke Tapu folks made their way through the cover of hush and surprised their former friends in Rewarewa with immense slaughter. The old signal station, which guided the sailing ships to anchorage and the surf boats to land, now the town railway station, was the site of the wellknown Puke Ariki Maori stronghold. Puke Kaka (parrot hill) was on the steep high point now known as Mareland Hill, since cut to a level for the barracks. Puke he (the bill of evil) now strangely named Mission Hill, is near the wharves. Apparently it was once of specially sinister aspect. Piikekura Park is not only of unique beauty, but was onco the centre of Maori devotion, romance and tragedy, of which one finds it difficult to gather details from any Maori who lived within the past fifty years. From their strange reticence concerning this spot, it would appear to have been specially marked out as tapu (sacred) and therefore not to he discussed. Kai Kuri —Dog’s Meat.

After Turi of the Aotea canoo had settled on the south bank of the Patea River, and shortly after his death, a serious quarrel arose among his children. The Ngati Ituanui and the Nga Rauru, who were ono tribe, were separated by a kanga (curse). As it illustrates a Maori custom, and as Ratana’s decision to build a memorial pa at Patea brings that historic old Maori kainga into the limelight, the episode may well be retold in our “Memories.” Coming down the coast, the Aotea called at Kaipara, where Turi’s daugh : ter Taneroroa, in accord with Maori custom, was given to Ihengu Puanaki as wife. A rival suitor Rau was rejected by Turi’s daughter on the ground that Rau was a Parent Maunu (moulting duck), and was unable to swim. Before the birth of the child of Ihenga and Taneroroa, the wife expressed a desire for flesh food. The only flesh procurable was that of a kuri (native dog) which was a rare delicacy, this little animal, curious to say, being of vegetarian habits. Taneroroa’s elder brother Turanga was the owner of the only two dogs in Patea, and these were valued above all price, having been brought from Hawaiki to breed for the tribe. So great was her craving that she induced her husband to kidnap and kill one of these treasures. By the eructations due to the feast of dog’s flesh Turanga discovered the culprits, so a deadly quarrel between brother and sister arose. Shame, not for them crime, but at its discovery, caused the guilty pair to flee across the Patea River to Whiti Kau, three miles along the coast. When their children grew up she pointed across the river and said to them: “Hei kai ma koutou a koutou Tuakana” (your elder relatives are food for you), a curse of deepest dye which can only be wiped out in blood. A curse between the Ngati Ruanui and Nga Rauru which caused tribal wars till these Christian days . _ , When Sr George Grey visited Patea in 1868 he was shown the Rauru spring, recently referred to by llatana. It was near Whiti ICau the home of Turi’s daughter and her husband Ihenga—there too stood the old sacred house Kai kapo. The 1 descendants of these people even now turn aside to weep over this spring of sacied memories.