MAORI LEGENDS AND POETRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9066, 29 May 1888, Page 6

MAORI LEGENDS AND POETRY.

LECTURE BY MAJOR WILSON. \ Last evening Major Wilson delivered a! lectitfe on " Maori Legends and.Poetry " in j the social hall of the Young Men's Christian \ Association Building. The chair was oc-; cupied by Mr. Thomas Buddie. Owing' to the treacherous and inclement state of the weather the audience was not at all as large as was desired. This is the more to be s regretted, because the object of the lecture was for the very laudable purpose of adding to the funds of the institution. . ' ■"'• s Major Wilson said he could not hope to ! do the subject of Maori legends justice in the short hour allowed him. Maori legends were of more importance than Maori poetry, \ as the original history of the Maori is related in the former. Like the Greeks and Romans, much of the legendary lore is. fabulous, and in many instances absurd. ; Bacon had said of the legends of old, " The mythology of the Greeks, which their oldest writers do not pretend to have invented, was no more than a light air which had passed from a more ancient people into the flutes of the Greeks, which they modulated to such descents as best suited their fancies." This idea might well be applied to Maori legends. There was a curious and striking likeness in the Maori myths to those of other races. The legend of Tawhaki, and the heavenly damsol Tangohango, who fell in love with each other was much like the Bible relation of the children of heaven and the daughters of earth, and as they of the lost Atlantis, the descendants of the god Poseidon, so the offspring of the Maori man and the heavenly woman became exceedingly wicked. It was, however, curious to note how in the Maori lepends the sexos were reversed, as in the story of Hinemoa andTuhanekai. It was the maid Hinemoa who swam to her lover, who played on the enchanted lute, while it was the male Greek Loander who swam the Hellespont. Again the Fountain of All was adored under the title of 10-a----rangi, 10-a-whemea, and 10-a-ahua, that is of the heaven, earth, and likeness, or a Trinity in unity. And what did the Maoris mean when they spoke of a mysterious child born on earth and taken up to heaven to be baptisod? Nor could wo account for the Maori belief in the death of Tawhaki, his resurrection and ascension to heaven on the thread of a spider's web, known by the Maoris generally as Te ara pipiki a Tawhaki, i.e., the ascending way of Tawhaki. Then there was again the oftrepeated assertion that certain Maoris are of heavenly descent, while others acknowledge themselves to be of the " hapu oneone'— earth tribe. Were the Maoris of heavenly descent kinsmen of Tawhaki, whose lightning-like body had to bo veiled with the bark of trees so that man might be able to look upon him ? Ancient Maori history was to a great extent indebted to Sir Geo. Grey for rescuing it from oblivion, and in giving it to the world in such a faithful and elegant translation (as in his "Polynesian Mythology and Maori Legends'). Major Wilson then proceeded to give, amongst other matters, accounts of the legends, recounting tho separation of heaven and earth, tho formation of mankind, the deluge, tho escapades of Mani, why death remains in the world, and tho story of Hinemoa the beautiful maid of Rotorua. In Caxton's "Golden Legend," to be seen in the new Free Library, as quoted by Sir George Grey, an Irishman stole a sheep, and as it could not be anywhere found recourse was had to St. Patrick, who by virtue of his saintly power caused the sheep to bleat inside the man who eat it, and thus was the thief discovered. This story is analogous to that of the dog which was stolon from Whakatauria, the Maori St. Patrick. The renowned priest Tanea-te-Kapua caused the dog to howl in the stomach of the thief Toi. Turning to tho subject of Maori poetry, Major Wilson said it was a mistake to i think, as some did, that there was no poetic spirit in the Maori, as evidence the following from Domett: — Say, ye wise, and worthy of all praise, Who toil with tokens from forgotten days, The veil from that grand mystery to raise: The origin of man and all his ways : Say—through what inborn need, what instinct strong, These savage races are the slaves of song ? ■' j , Again, joyous creatures, be they marfot bird, show their gladness by breaking into song : —

Behold the merry minstrels of the morn, ; ■ The swarming songsters of the careless grove ; Ten thousand throats that from the flowing thorn Hymn their good God, and carol sweet of love.

Tho New Zealander was nothing behind our own barbarous forefathers in regard to their love of song and poetical legend. Some of their pieces could most favourably compare with those of the sages of old. The repeating and chanting of Polynesian legendary lore gives the modern Maori as much pleasure as it did that of the old Northern barbarian. Sir George Grey, early in tho history of the colony, collected and published in tho Maori language a very large number of tho best native poems, and tho avidity with which the native will pore over the volume, often sitting up the whole night reading and singing them aloud, showed how much they were appreciated and treasured by these sons and daughters of nature. To translate Maori poems literally would give the figures of speech and exhibit the modes of thought, but would afford a poor conception, or none at all, to our minds of the beauty of the composition. In the original it is so terse that to be pleasing we had to give it in paraphrase, embodying all the thoughts and figures. The Maori poetry was peculiar in construction, the language and character of the native mind rendering it necessarily so. Poetry in verse would bo to a nativo insipid, and would convey to his mind little of whatever beauty it possessed. Many of the Island songs were rendered in metre, but their vigour, so essential to a Maori poem, has evaporated in tho endeavour to polish. Major Wilson then completed his lecture by giving selections and extracts from Maori poems, reading them in the original and in translation. The lecture was listened to with deep attention throughout, and at its close a vote of thanks was unanimously tendered the lecturer, which vote Major Wilson having acknowledged, the audience separated.