WHERE THE WHITE MAN TREADS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12401, 24 October 1903, Page 1 (Supplement)

WHERE THE WHITE MAN TREADS.

No. XIX. [BT W.B.jXEKUm.J AS HE SAW IT. I had posted my correspondence, and was sauntering about in the genial morning warmth, grateful that winter had packed his portmanteau and departed. And spring, nodding to many an old acquaintance, was moving into the vacant apartment, waving a wallet, bulging with interesting confidences, to be divulged later on. Aye, later on ; but in the meantime she broke in on suspense with snatches of sunshine and song, and a promise of greater revelations to come.

Presently I met one of those human limpets, who, given a promise of moderate sustenance, fasten on at once. This is not said in reproach-, for he was my friend, —an enthusiastic talker, charged to the muzzle with information, which it was pleasant to listen to. He had a quaint happiness of expression, which is lost in translation, and finding a convenient seat he began: , "Why is it," he asked, "that the pakeha looks down on us? Is it because of our colour, our customs, or what? If it were merely our customs I could conceive an objection, for there are many of his own which are an abomination to us. So, judging by comparison, it is possible that people who have been taught according to rules growing out of one set of conditions may look with disfavour on habits quite necessary and nice to those of other conditions. For instance: "I was sitting at an hotel dinner-table, when, two other Maoris (strangers to me) also came in and sat down. One of these was a grown-up lad, and the elder, either his relation or friend. The first course was sou];., and as the younger used his spoon his lips reached forth to meet it, the same time he insucked his breath, which made, a particular noise—like one drinking scalding tea. After the third mouthful the elder said, in an undertone, ' Ei, kaua hei pera to kai, kei kiia taua lie poaka (say, eat not like that, lest it be said of us that we are pigs); Then he looked at me, and we nodded, thereby silently agreeing that as we sat at the white man's table it became us to conform to his customs. "Here we have an illustrative point of varying ■ Among us, in the past, a man of importance by this motion of his lips, proclaimed his distinction. No man of inferior station would dare to slobber thus. This prerogative was claimed by chiefs alone. The slave, or vassal, had to consume his food humbly, and with the least possible noise. " When a chief was invited to a feast, before he touched the food set before him, ho first lowered his mat to his hipsmother naked to the waist—so that no one sitting in his rear might be able to place

a miiKuiu genu m ma ruus, wiiiuu &c*.iu would be most potent while at meals. Then he would grasp the meat in both hands and bite out a mouthful. When he came to eat his puka he would in-suck lies breath with force, and thus draw the portion in. He would be exercising his right, and thus make manifest Lis superiority. " Behold in this one of the many lessons we must unlearn when we associate with the pakeha. " With the pakeha, to act as I have said, is a token of lowly condition, and to partake of his victuals noisly brands him as uneouth and of mean and lowly birth. He must open his mouth no wider than will admit, the .portion presented on the fork or spoon ; he must masticate til uilesce; . he must eject bones and other substances so as to call no attention thereto. With our forefathers the direct contrary marked elite rearing. Strange is it not? Are we therefore pigs? "A pakeha housewife, if she have but one basin, will wash her face and also mix her plumpudding in the same utensil. This have I seen twice, and each time it farewelled my appetite, for with us this is supremely weti weti (disgusting). At- another time I saw a woman, whose husband had brought home a string of fish, cast them into an iron tub and pour water therein, to prevent the scales drying on before she had time to clean them. Would you believe it? This veritable tub had been used to wash clothes in! Another abomination which even an. insane creature among us would remember to avoid. Yet we are both human. Why should we not mortify your pride by calling: ' Behold the pigs.' " You mention our .sanitary matters, and that wise.? Truly, as you say, they are to be reprobated. But, my diligent faultfinder, listen. A distant relative, serving as a sailor on a ship, when he returned from Sydney, related tales of what he | had seen there at the time of the plague, j which, yhen he had ended, we condemned as the imaginings of a stricken brain. It was past believing that a race, which pretends to hold aloft the torch of progress, would allow in their midst the filthy horrors which lay exposed when the houses were pulled down — over which—— they had eaten and slept! Never in our out-camps, homesteads, or villages havesuch enormities been allowed to accumulate as he told us of, and which he had seen with his own eyes. And we said, " After this, let no white man smite us with Ids dirty hand, and cry, "Friend, thy face is soiled.'" Pigs, indeed!'' "But," I interrupted, "you would not condemn a race for the degrading practices of its minority, which, in this case,_ is manacled by poverty, even if it be of its own devising.'' "And why not?" he answered. " Why should not the child be- amenable to the control of its parent? Why should it be allowed to cry, ' Don't strike me, I am thy offspring?' I will here mention our proverb —Near the nest, the bird is silent. i am reviewing customs, under which we were a numerous people, and which you j are pleased to classify as the customs of i the pigs. j " Of this, also, much resentment disturbs my heart-throbs. I speak of the chastity | of our women, which the pakeha denounces most impudently. Here, again, i comparisons are amphibious. Look on this ' picture, and on that. Does he know of j what he speaks so confidently? Does he j speak with the authority born of knowj ledge, careful search, truthful information, I and impartial decision? I say, no, he j cloth not. , Whence cometh his informa- . tionf From a few of our loose women. How is it acquired? Look at our halfcaste children! With us, it is in all cases a matter of the affections. The pakeha thrusts his mischances out of doors; we , forgive and cherish them. He boasts of his stature, yet brains himself against the lintel. He—as the Bible hath it —is fren- . zted at the splinter in our eyes, but forgets , that he causes damage ramping around with \ the pole sticking out of his own. Verily, ' ho is like the wild duck, which pretends a broken wing to distract attention from ' her young. Enough of that. I-. "There remaineth our colour. Now, I ■ have not myself, or heard any Maori, re--1 mark, 'I wish I were white like a pakeha.' - We take our colour as a gift from gods, 5 and are satisfied with it. If we have suffi--3 cient of food and raiment, and we get the 1. woman on whom we have set our affections, t we recognise that life is good to us. Then, s beyond the petty tribulations of this day e and that, we are happy. For what mat--1 terth the colour of the skin? A white face 11 and a black heart —it were profitable tr n decide which is the more to be preferred. ;, And as he- has sense, the pakeha cannot h make this an obstacle to closer union. Am d sc that objection vanisheth. n "Then remaineth lastly to be inquired o 'What is it?' And the probability lies or the surface that despises us, because tin

gods have 'selected him to be the repository of their wisdom. This, we concede without cavil. Truly, in dispensing knowledge to their favourites, the gods have been unstintiegiv magnificent. Turn where we will it exudfcth as the dew of the niglit. He lies down at night with a question, and rises in the morning with an answer. It comes to him as poverty to the spendthrift. ' This makes him sarcastic when ignorance asks for information which lies so apparent. This is my opinion, and I ask you, of the race, to confirm it. Is it the reason the pakeha despises us?" I was so utterly captivated with his cheerful garrulity that I had forborne to interrupt him, but now I said: "Is it possible that there are among the unthinking rabble, some who, as you say, look down on you, and each may have his or her fancy reason for doing it. But the sweeping assertion that all do, is not only a mistake; it is an untruth. The pakeha sees in you the germs of unlimited expansion, and would assist you glady, but you must let him do it ins own way. Therefore, why not listen to his advice? Why not step out of that uncertain rut, you call a road? Why not bestir yourselves, and shake off your killing fatalism? Lay aside you tohunga absurdities, your unnatural marriage laws, your unwholesome tangi customs, your laying on your backs in the sun, to await impossible events; your maxim of 'enough for the day,' etc., without assuring yourself that there is not only enough for to-day, but the morrow a l so — morrow of your children. The pakeha has a deeper regard for you than lie himself is aware of. But the struggle of life with him does not allow him to drag along an unwilling cripple at his side, whi continually cries: ' Stop a little, here is a custom I must observe; here is a fruit I must taste; he is an ancient flower I must sniff at. So he shakes you off in disgust, and says, Bah, go your own way. 1 can't waste my time; that chap here at my elbow will get past me if I loiter!' You must throw away your crutches of superstition, tribe hatreds, paltry jealousies, makutu insanities, and obsolete hereditary customs. " Remember you are the favoured race. The pakeha once stood where you now stand. He had no one to show him as you have. All that which you look upon as gifts of the gods are nothing of the sort; they are the results of hard thinking bitter experiences and constant labour. Every man's skill ended with his life. But he planted seeds which grew for those after him, who improve on them, until stands accomplished that which staggers you. This day he wanders on the seashore of the vast unexplored beyond. Every sunrise tells the world of a fresh discovery. And all this is yours. What you have to do, is to throw away your crutches) and make a grab for what is to your hands." Oh, I felt grand and fine in my heroic enthusiasm. I had risen from my seat, and declaimed with suggestive armflinging. I saw a small prophetic soul expand, and bend with vistas of a brown race vieing with a white. I took the horizon for an objective, followed its majestic curve— broken by mountain, valley, tableland, and plain—down to my feet to watch the fiery ardour I had lit. But, lo! he was asleep.