PAI MARIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 441, 12 April 1865, Page 5

PAI MARIRE.

(From the Tiraiiaki Herald, April 8 ) As wo related some months ago, tho founder or prophet of the Pui Manre faith was a Taranaki native, Horopapera Tuwhaknraro, otherwise called Tβ Uα. In tho year IKO2 ho bomme slightly insane, and when the J.ord Worsley was wrtcked he wished the passengers mid crew iiu<i all tho goods to be etnt into town untouched, and tlif refu-al of the tribo to consent to this increased his disorder. Shortly afterwards ho s::.w the ung-il Gabriel, wlio instructed him to preach a new gospel. His first injunction to his tribe was to leave oil' fighting and live peaceably, hence the twin Fui Manre, which, a3 far as it means anything, means '• be peaceable" or "quiet." tut" sequently he enjoined (li.it bibles and prayer books, churches, the institution of niarriagfl, and of the aabliath—in short all t!;at the missionaries had taught mill the missionaries themselves —should be put usido. The only pak°has to be toL'rat>;d nninii' thorn were ihe Jews as beim; with th.m tho common descendants of Shem who was now declared to be their progenitor, and it at pcais that they have adopted the word Jew ('I in) as -,i designation lor tiieir priests, ihe origin and progress of the faith have not been wanting in miraculous attes'ations. Te Uft having iu his madness attacked and b<uten the wife of Te Meiha or Big Jack, the latter retaliated by beating the jir.iphet severely, finally tying him up lest he should do further mischief- The ropus however, according to the report, unloosed themselves without human interventionand set Te Ua (roe. J le was then 1 ound with a chain -which was padlockcJ, but tho chain parted assunder in every link. 1 iis child was a cripple having a twisted foot; he. pulled this violently (or struck it with an ,i~e, for accounts vary}, breaking the bone and ultimately killing the child. His wife told this to tho tribo who sent a party to capture him, but when they got near there -was the child alive and sound. At the taking of ivaitake, one man whose namo we have forgotten, caught a bull.-t in his hand which was coining straight to his chest, and threw it uside; this gift, ln.wover, seems to havo been neglected a tow weeks later at Sentry Hill. The wildest cattle will obey the call of true believers ; and a dog at Tβ Kopua which had not suUiciently re-petted the sanctity of the iWw was observed suddenly to raise a great outcry and fell dead in tin. , mid-t of tho worshippers. Tho evidence for these miracles would probably not be such as to convince a sceptic, but. seems to be quite satisfactory to those who sae the spiritual fitness of the doctrinc-.'i they go to establish. The new pjophet, however, made but littli; progress until somfi time ai'trr the v,hi .:<:d begun in ISG3; then the divine aillatua or prophetic, power was communicated to ilo.'iui Arawhititaua (or Tahutahi) by smoking To La's pipe, and subsequently to Hepanaiii and Wi I'oraiiii. It was the two former who prompted the journey to Aluuihu, projihus'.iug that Home pakehas would he delivered into their hands, and it was they wiio after the death of Captain Lloyd and. tho others licked the blood from tha axes which had been used to cut oil' tho dead men's heads. Hepanaia was killed three weeks a.fter at Sentry Hill, but if the victory had occurred on the Oth instead of on the 30th April (us it might have occurred if our men had been true to themje ves) the history of this p-rmeious fanaticism would have been materially, perhaps totally changed. The (irst/c'ii, or worshipping post, was set up lit Kaitake, a-id *as used nlso as the ilagstaff. standing on tho Hat below, behind the palisading These posts are now ail over this side of the island, in the interior, the Kast Cape, and elsewhere, but the Kaituke Ikgsraft", it appears, ns the iirsfc. Some friendly natives only last week were about setting one up at Bell Block, but were stopped by Mr. .Harris. The believers we have consulted, though weli acquainted with ail the rites and the history of it from the beginning, are not able to explain why the post holds such an important place in their ceremonies, nor why they go round it—probably tin' originator of the custom could give no intelligible retison himself, any more than Tor the gibberish equally unintelligible to Maori and Pakeha, which constitutes the greater part of their so-called prayers. A rationalising native has suggested that the object of the going round was to make being initiated giddy and cuiii'usi-d as being a nuro favourable state o: mind to receive the faith, but if we reflect that the founder was a iua.!ii;au, we shall not look too narrowly for a r-.-usonable explanation, or espect niui'h logical coherence i:i the s\ stem. The question why such a system has spread eo rapiuiy am-mg tho n itive-s is an exceedingly interesting enquiry, but we uo not think the ansiver is far t> seek. I'eopk' wonder th.it men who were ehristians sho .Id follow such unchristian courses, and the would be wonderful if true. Tho Maoris took up Cbj istiunity lightly, profc33ed a belief in it without understanding what it meant, and havo a3 lightly cast it aside. Before Te Ua and his doctrines were iieardjof beyond his own immediate neighbourhood, and long before his madness was thought to be inspiration, natives of other districts had begun to mingle their own heathen incantations with the church service, as at the raising of the new king's flags at Mataitawa on 10th Scptem* ber, IS.-52. ihe diriiculty was that they could not nltogei , '. r throw aside the Christian teaching without denymu .':o Christian God, and this they dare not do. But when Te lla's message was underslood, it wee seen that, without setting up another god, ho had got over tho difficulty by declaring himself the recipient of a new revelation annulling the eld religion and ite rules of life, and leaving ovity one as free es in ancient titnee to follow his own devices. This is the SfCr.-t of the success of the l J ai Marir.% that it removes the restrictions on free action imposed by Christianity, and gives a, divine sanction to whatever they may to do.