MAORI BURIAL GROUNDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19736, 8 September 1927, Page 12

MAORI BURIAL GROUNDS

RAIN UNCOVERS BONES.

GRAVES IN FAR NORTH.

MEETING GROUND OF SPIRITS

An extraordinary result of the heavy rain experienced this winter at the northerly extremity Of the North Island has been to uncover immense quantities of human bones, indicating the presence of old and important Maori burial grounds. The bones are mixed with small bits of obsidian, the latter having been thrown by mourners on the bodies of the dead at the climax of the funeral rites. The site of the cemeteries now uncovered is on the sand and stone hillocks that abound between North Capo and Cape Maria Van Diemen.

Between these two capes lies Spirits Bay, whose western point is named Cape Reinga. According to tradition it is to Spirits Bay that the spirits of the Maoris go after death. At Cape Reinga there is a semi-circular ledge of rock, a dress circle, on which the spirits dance before taking off into the ether. The uncovering of the graves indicates that the tradition was generally accepted by the Maoris and that they sought to place the bodies of their dead as near as possible to the point of departure for the spirits. A further intriguing discovery 'was made just outside the gates of Pandora, Mr. Herbert Macquarrie's camping site. Here there appeared an oval of stones enclosing what had been a suspiciously long Maori campfire or oven. At four regular, intervals appeared bones, where apparently four people had been sitting and eatingj the remains of their meal were human bones.

Apart from these grisly excavations, the wet weather has caused considerable displacement of the rocky cliffs that comprise the extreme northerly bastion of the North Island. One headland, which was almost a rocky islet, has collapsed altogether, leaving one tall pinnacle standing uncertainly beside th# best fishing rock in the vicinity of Spirits Bay. Most of the debris has fallen into the sea, but some idea of the looseness of the cliffs at this time may be gathered from the fact that two people walking round the cliffs from Pandora the other day almost came to blows, one declaring that the other had thrown a rock at his head.