Dusty Feet.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 8 (Supplement)

Dusty Feet.

By Gloria Rawlinson

New Zealand Story

ORIGINALLY they were spoken of as U the tribe of the Muddy Feet and among some of the Maoris tins name persisted for many years, the explanation of the name bmng thjt two footnrints of clay were found at the Oaso 01 a store loft in a pa, the morning after it had been raidec . The foot-prmts were almost casts, as though the pilfer shed shoes of red mud that had hard ""Sut Rata, in after years always referred to herself as the head of the Dusty Feet. Perhaps she wanted to forget the long hard winter when her little band of children, caked m m d, wandered through bush and tains in search of a dwelling p previous winter had not been so hard because they had camped in a ave by tlm sea x forty-one children in all nineK. boys and twenty-two Mtle girls. For nearly three years th<»y had been at large, being all that remained of a once famous tribe. They had been well hidden while their fathers and mothers and older rellations fon eJf "J invading enemy, and when the fighting was over and they had crept out of their hiding-place they found a deserted pa. Mounds, dykes and battlements were stained with blood, and a pyre stood in the centre of the enclosure where many bodies had been burned. The huts, too, had been set on fire and no one remained to tell the tale of lost leaders, broken ranks, panic, flight and death. Nothing remained for the children but ashes. . Rata, at that time, was a quickwitted little lass twelve years old, and the eldest of the children. Her cousin, Tupi, then a boy of eleven, came next in age and the others ranged from ten down to little Pikau, a chubby boy of three. Rata and Tupi withdrew from the others and talked matters over. Clearlv, they were all orphans —clearly too, they could not stop where they were, as the victorious tribe might return. They had had no food for three days and there was none in the pa. Rata and Tupi looked at the tired and weeping children and decided that they must find temporary shelter somewhere in the great forest. Rata returned and addressed them. She told them in an impassioned speech of what Tupi and she thought had happened. "All that is left to us is hatred of our enemies, and that hatred we will keep alive for ever. Now, we are children but a tribe still. Let us arm ourselves with the strongest weapon of all-=»-unity. Thus bound one to another, we will live and make a home for ourselves in some far off place where we can grow in strength and stature until wo are ready for war with the tribe that killed our people." Tupi then addressed them, bidding them look upon Rata as their leader and obey her in all things—which they promised to do. So, with Rata carrying the one remaining digging tool, and Tupi with little Pikau on his back, they marched away into the bush in search of fern roots.

began to circulate among the other tribes. Even Rata, who was very proud of her little clan did not know how much they were feared. She had instilled into them thalj they were not merely a hapu (or family), but a tribe. . They worked in., fours, snaring birds, digging fern or waylaying slaves. They knew where, when, and how to attack a labourer returning home with a kit of roots or kumaras. In fours they raided and plundered and were fleetfooted and strong—girls as well as boys. But the last winter had told on them, and Rata and Tupi once more decided that they must make a settlement somewhere. She was fifteen and the baby Pikau was now a lusty boy of six. The Dusty Feet tribe were a fearsome looking lot of children. They had drawn crude designs on their faces and legs, covered themselves with, gum resin, and stuck green and dead leaves all over their bodies, and they were lean and wild. It was while resting for a few days on the banks of a river that four of the boys discovered a dilapidated canoe. This was a great acquisition for, with constant bailing on the part of ten of the children and frant:c paddling on the part of twenty others, they found that it would not only keep afloat, but they could make fair headway in it. They left their camping ground one early afternoon, and drifted down with the current that flowed to the 6ea. Their paddles were crude and only hard labour on the part of the bailers kept the canoe from sinking. It was dark when they located a pa on one side of the river, and approached softly, for three years of wandering and watchfulness had made them cautious and silent in their movements. No one saw them —apparently the inmates were asleep and the watchman from the heights of the pa must have been off his guard. The canoe slid past, close to the river bank, and rounding a corner they came upon another vessel, gaily decorated and laden with baskets of cooked food, paddles and mats. With only a few signs Rata indicated to her band what they were to do, and in a few seconds they had transferred themselves from their insecure derelict into the large canoe. Tupi then made the old one fast to the banks and in less than two minutes they were on their way again, passing food and water to one another. The paddlers changed places with those who had eaten, wrapped themselves up in the mats and slept. For the first time since they had been homeless the Dusty Feet tasted luxury and it was good. Some of them slept and then were awakened to take their turn at rowing while others snatched an hour or so of sleep. Little Pikau, wrapped in a mat, fell asleep over a cold kumara and lay in the bottom of the canoe, clutching his spear in one hand and the kumara in the other. Only Rata and Tupi kept awake. Their eyes had no sleep in them. Night was nt its darkest when she told the paddlers to draw to the bank and make fast the, canoe and sleep. Then she and Tupi went to reconnoitre: They found another pa. a large "whaiwhai" or fighting pa, and it looked so safe and so like home to the children that they sat down and discussed ways and means of attacking it, driving out its inhabitants and holding it for their own. It was a childish plan, but they were becoming reckless. Sheer necessity was driving them into the most dangerous adventures. Returning to the canoe they woke up the rest of the children, who, refreshed with food and sleep, listened eagerly. Covered in their green and dead leaves, with gruesome-looking beards of grass and feathers they looked like fearsome gnomes or grotesque little old men. (To be Concluded)

The first year went by and found the Dusty Feet still homeless. They had lived hard, wandering about through the forests, up the coast line and far inland. Sometimes they raided the store lofts of other tribes, and when they passed near a pa, the digging grounds were plundered and kumara pits robbed. A lad about nine years of age was their firemaker and could cook food in the ground with a minimum amount of smoke. They worked systematically. Rata drilled them, harangued them, worked and ruled them. Even the baby Pikau had been taught to carry and use a weapon. Rumours of a band of little people who plundered stores and were fierce and cunning