MAORI IDIOCRASY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18457, 21 July 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

MAORI IDIOCRASY.

WEAKNESS IN TRANSLATION

BY W. 8., OTOROHA.KOA. •

■'.":/This. once proud race;; tho Maori; which with fierce heartsearchings oi'' whafi therefrom might iss.ue, yet- surrendered to us its sovereignty, deserves our best; endeavour that ■ the capitulation". terms ;by which wa. induced it to relinquish ;to?us':'its independent nationhood be honestly observed.;'' ■:.'■■■ ,■' ' - ''• '-

One term at. least we have "redeemed : its language, which from ah. oral unwritten code Vof vords, ;we ,-. ; have,. by /,. a ; system of phonetic ' orthography,' rendered into an almost perfect etymology -. a laurel: leaf ■ in the coronet, of 'ihe keen who : lovingly t<,ok .nn ; tho work, and of ■', whom. ; ,;ManßseU; ? khu, the Williams, family : stand , ftviile ; ; over, all ■ .-./v:;.^"-./;•!;•;• -;->'' : ;'-,:;t -V' ; !*' '"

'■'•% Having unlocked that ports* pViti /my lay .open for the gleaners :to gather • th« race's '. history, legend, mytholo£,/ and poetry, of which" every scrap of apparent value has been garnered into that granary of ; : knowledge, the 'white; man's book, but where— , have',•;' mercy—it ';'' lies in promiscuous confusion, awaiting the grader to classify and store it in a library of its ; own, where : the : future student m.ay, without search or oark, ponder 1 to l his great content. "-'■ English Thought and Maori Speech. We have those gleanings both ;in the vernacular and translation. But it is in those translations the-blemish lies.. The translators have failed to interpret the spirit : the thinking as the Maori thought, the literal transcription of Maori ideals into corresponding ' English words. Take Sir George Grey'a ■" Polynesian. Mycology"! the translator has not conveyed to us Maori idiocrasy, but as C. 0. Davis said of Bishop v Selwyn: : "He thinks in English, to speak in Maori." Most of it is children's story-bookly colloquial, and in several instances inaccurate. In short, as his paksha ideals suggested, so he interpreted the Mao'i thought.

In this th<i Maori is deprived of wh-vt is certainly his due. His emotions wvs expressed in a language which lent itself to varying moods, which were mainly romantic and poetical; of course, not in the profound abstractions in which our wider ~ conceptions prompt us to display our sentiments, but from , his purview of the nature he was trammelled by. Hence all his names of persons and places were emblematic of some accident, some quaint hap that appealed ■■ to r his ; poetic mind. And as his social code was unfettered by convention — we know. it-r--bores <6i *'-'--- names /are best left };m}th}e obscurity our conventions demand of us, ~ .

have ■committed v is...;that they neglected to translate their tele, mythology, ' or songs at the time and from the person who supplied the same. I have a book o:f Maori, songs collected by a John McGregor, and not one translation in the whole! By that omission, as Maori literature it is valueless.. For few, if any, now remain who could explain the obscure terms and abbreviations so frequently used. Had this collector chosen hulf and given the correct translation it 3 worth -would -be its weight in gold ! I had an intimate friend in a Mtiniapoto chief, Hari Hemara, wisil VilvrKoza, paid under whoso tuition, I translated teveraf of >he uongs, but in midst; of our labour he died. Then the book was stolon, ' biit I recently recovered . it, »,hd' shall re- • sume tbn task -.as' best I ajti •>;.., / 1 ■ A' : Maori JOirge.

What I said, ante, that Maori ideals might v not compare in pt«?undity with Ours;; is true only} of their range. Within that rang©---the .r nature ■;• that ; .environed him—his fancy took ; liberties and flights of metaphor, not only}; apt and appealing, but laden with human heart cries and emotions. '* . For instance; ■;, this ; dirge for a : deadv lover—translated word for word in idiom :— .,;.<,v. S-\'j' : \--^%U-:-yrjX-'y' : '

Theia 13 naught of my affection ■> But : is' shattered, torn cord of my heart I ~C V%'*t!'': i "»*,'; ' ^^»'f t¥ h's: i .'-.-ycu:-vaiiishod. .:. i)'or , my-comfort' ■-;these . you: loft '■ me— " armories and . a grief-world," • For ,a 'parting l gift. :'y ;..,-, : When- I'riaoi : -.and dawn ; is • ureyinsj.. ••-■LUw }>!»»«*«, . t<<flO— ics*fc<6-: ':*?"<Vi'■;_Vf." .■::'' ■my •«.».K.ii,'" l iV!-.' '*'"'': ' ■■■'■,■■,;'■. '";," '■■ ■■','•; ' ■■■ Do I hear the- surf-roar?— within me Eddy mourrinff dirges for their def.'i! ; Seabirds scaring -up" the riror,:...!;;'- • Symbols oil my- lover cuinin« no :' . 'more! v,::-::';■.>.;- "' ,- .' "•-■:' Broakctidi'; surges, up the river. .; v Post my : home—it is ••; empty, . only . I re- . main • . ? • , ; Com© just once aKain,>;deS.r,. closely, .Lay your . head between . my ; knees. That again I mcy .look downward, See the markings on your : skin, ; ' See your love-eyes, ; hair-roof shaded, » Giint beneath them, S3 one sees \ through . mint; >;-..;.-'■)'•!.> , ■ -•:,-^.;:-"■.-';'••-'■'■:',."-'■, ~ ' : ' Se*e •' the wind toy ; with > your :; hair-strands. ; Must I ! waken ? Must I find this: all a dream? • ;-.;:• ' ■

Rather crude and staccato, maybe. But join up the lines with the rhythm of the wail, and there is : much, : though unsaid, that falls aptly into place. For in speech, lacunae are filled with gesture and, ;in poetry and song, with tone, which the listeners, following the sentiment,} know how'} to replace with ,words.' .'•;: "Y;.';':- ~ :

>*;'.' The Thoughts Behind the. Worlds. Ther© is move of ' that dirge, but the similes vary: only in the; symbols. The mourner ealtates from idea to idea— ramble with 'aching fingers over all the heartstrings of grief. As if •, the yearner would embrace "tin fewest words the wide range that sorrow.; can express— ! pain,: reaching "/^or.'eluding';,, hope, Hespair '-'■' at an abyss there 5 ;; is ; ; no' crossing" to. ■'■>;■ Hence the Maori woman, to visualise her abandon to her agony, took a shard of sharp obsidian, and at each simile drew it ] across hoi: chest, -up and down her • arms, her face; that the ichor of !> her " heartache may mingle with her tears .;> that the ; gnawing., of;-; her -'sorrow is more poignant ; than' the pain -of those symbolio cuts- One feels as one listens that, only human passion can thus coml- - beseech, ;: seek comfort from & void that answers : only " Never more." It is very moving. : Even, the: emotionless Sassenach . has been caught lifting .' 'a surreptitious "kerchief to ' the eye, pod blub-, ber like a Wild. I repeat: These airo the points th* pakeha trail? v ..ors must interpret, or they convey to 'as no Mt.ori thought, or literiviurft, nor' extract few. us the essence if nure.MaoH skoals. ['■ '% ixiroly quote, !r..i :~.H<loyi:;\a glypLk*, a ramble -of We,. m* i iho!ois; ; or . .waiaia, ' *VL rie^U'v-- 1 ;-. ing to 1 ; show us :an idiocrasy of the Maori'B own. '~ -: Notwithstanding; that ,:. he was .by taste, heredity <■'■ and . cult a warrior, end during tho frenzy o of.) combat unlovely, ;. fierce, and merciless,-; when that *r«rv«y had, been sated, ho' returned, within his" limits, i*p the great family of human kind, ,v/ith all its sins and sorrows, with ; all .; its sentiments., ideals wad conMttoa peneqw