SCRAPS AND SKETCHES.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 60, 16 March 1842, Page 4

SCRAPS AND SKETCHES.

[by crayon.] The writer of these Sketches, in offering them to the perusal of the public, feels that their merit or attraction consists merely in the local interest of their descriptions; and he having for a long time travelled and lived amongst the natives, is probably acquainted with more peculiarities in their domestic character, than the public have hitherto been familiarised with. They were commenced at the request of a friend, and the interest attaching itself to a newly adopted country, must serve as an apology for their appearance. Long preambles to a tale may be said to tire the reader, but in these descriptions the writer has endeavoured to introduce nothing but ideas taken from nature. THE NEW ZEALAND PETRUCHIO. (A fact.) It was in the height of summer, the sun’s heat agreeably tempered by a north-easterly breeze which crept up steadily and smoothly to the distant hills. Parties of natives were spread in all directions on the Kumera plantations, and occasionally the hum of voices broke the stillness of the heights above them, or more audibly the shout of a war dance, or a chorus of singers, lightened the tedium of their occupation. Each hand and eye was in active pursuit of that enemy to the Kumera, the green grub, and heaps of them were already accumulating, to the extent of half a bushel in each. Day after day, and week after week, do they devote thus, to the protection of their favorite food ; everything else is of minor importance. Indeed, such is their superstitious fear of accidents, that a man who had purchased a new red blanket, raised a violent outcry against him from the old women of his tribe, for attempting to walk amongst the Kumera plantations whilst he was wearing it, for they said if would turn the flesh of the vegetable red. During this important proceeding, there were few idlers ; some children who had escaped trom restraint, were splashing in the water on the banks of the river, which lay polished and even as a steel mirror. A few wild ducks sat lazily on the sand, outflanked by two watchful shags, who occasionally raised their wings in the act of flight, as the sports of the children seemed likely to threaten an invasion of their own retirement ; serious apprehensions seemed immediately after to have arisen, as a large war canoe swept round the point, dashing its couse up the river, paddled by thirty muscular natives ; no sooner had they opened the pah, than the reports from several muskets startled the birds from their repose, and the people from their work, for they ran flocking to the beach. Three other canoes came in succession, each firing two or three salutes, and the sharp crack of several double-barrel guns in the pah answered the compliment. The first canoe which reached the land, had the head and stern handsomely carved in that continuous circular figure, which indicates their rude and natural conceptions of the true line of beauty ; these parts were profusely decorated with the feathers of the tui and the ka ka, which were also continued at regular distances, in bunches tastefullv arranged along the sides of the canoe. Before they reached the beach, twenty young men were balancing themselves in different parts of the frail structure, brandishing their paddles, and shouting a mock defiance, which soon ended in uproarous laughter, and all seated themselves again. The groups in all the canoes now became highly amusing ; many were thickly painted with kokowai in grotesque patches on the face, while several old men and women were actually daubed witli it from head to foot; here were two preparing fire for their pipes, another might be seen cleaning the touchhole of his musket, while more reclined in those unrestrained and occasionally graceful attitudes so frequently seen in the savage, and so difficult to nourtray cept iu iu.mcumtc sxeicnes irom nature. The party had returned from a visit to some neighbouring tribe, and their chief had brought with him a bride. She bad previously given hei heart to a voung man connected with hei gw family, but she had been demanded by a powerful chiefi and as might is frequently right in these affairs, the girl was dragged to the canoe when they started, without her opinion being once consulted. Her husband now stepped from the stern of the largest canoe; he was a fine figure, but : f ot particularly imposing in his height; the kaituka was wrapped around his limbs in giacefu folds, excepting his right breast and shoulder which showed the fullness of muscular proportion his cartouch box was slung across his chest m i leathern belt, and he carried a good double-barre cun His countenance was mild, and even feminine and was one of those puzzles or contradictions c physiognomy the New Zealander frequently ex dibits there was much to be dreaded in him, fc when’ excited by passion, none dare opposi

and when that occurred slaves took to then heels in all directions ; for I have heard, he made but little of putting a ball in them when the angry mood crossed him, and they were fool hardy enough to brave him.

The chief turned, on leaving the canoe, to the girl, who sat in the stern ; he addressed a few words to her, she landed, and immediately seated herself on the beach. Several women came to embrace her, and this mark of welcome seemed to stir up all the softer feelings of her breast. She cried—not the hackneyed cry of the Maori on such occasions ; for hers, poor girl, serened more than she could subdue. The heavings of her frame were deep and troubled ; the re J'/lections of her home, her companions, and hV| l%r, all rushed upon her recollection ; she gave? '/ to their united force in uncontrolable bursts of 'fief, wrapping her mat around her head, and hr ring it in her lap. The tangi was general in all 1 Sections, both in the pah and on the bead), for /'-ends and relations had returned, their chie ,had brought back his bride, and their cires wer ords of joy and welcome.

The remaining part of itis day m# ’excitement to all the inhabitants of the seg] .it; there was much to tell of their expedite :ind every little incident was related with all tin esticulations imaginable, and the conversation and speeches of the people they had visited told again to their friends with the greatest •. ■’curacy. It was relation and re-relation ; groups of listeners to some one or other of the lately retnrned, might be seen in all directions ; and that peculiar preface the natives have in relating a conversation with another, “ Katai ka ki tnfei,” was the resource of every orator, and the commencement of every striking sentence. The ladies of the tribe had been busily engaged, bond and free, in ministering to the capacious appetites of their lords and masters’ Pipis, potatoes, and fish, succeeded each other rapidly ; as evening approached, they listlessly resigned themselves to the enjoyment of a pipe, or more, perhaps overcome by repletion, sank to rest and slumber.

Night had approached, and all was silence without, for even the boys and girls took to the smoky houses of their parents, forsook the huka, to listen again to an often repeated tale. Here is one of these buildings before us, an angular frame of wood, reaches within three feet of the ground at both extremities ; it is grotesquely carved, the figures of rats and lizards connected and entwined in the most inextricable confusion. The ap°x of the angle is surmounted by the figure of a tuniwa, or sea god, who has very little idea of the becoming addition of garments ; the ends are supported by two figures of the same description, The entrance to the body of the dwelling is low, and shaded by the roof, which is intended as a species of verandah, being carried three or four feet beyond the door, reeds neatly placed together, and fastened at intervals of every six inches, by colored flax, In the shape of a diamond, form the front; a black spear, twenty feet long, hangs over the door, which is about two feet and a half high, and there are two or three muskets on the raupo, their polished barrels glittering with the reflection of the moon, The inside of the building is also neatly reeded ; the rafters and the uprights are neatly squared with the adze, and have been painted with ochre in graceful curves, but the continued smoke from the fire within, makes it a difficult matter to distinguish anything of their original proportions. There was light sufficient from the fire burning inside to shew tl.e figures seated around it; three elderly women, and the girl who was crying on the beach in the morning— retailed a melancholy expression injm- Je > and a s *'° me of violent altercation ave ln whi c jj'er husband atm*-- , .Upsi on which"' I ''- a ” 5 trt for he b and said to he,~Sa &- stretched at fa -len - found the se 'eer 0 f “So thg’nk!!;!!.™ *.«• " ,e y° u have ' , a jour.. fund you whom you dearly love,’ w ' nd continuing with an air of irony, “ of ' elcr se he is young and attractive, and equal in rari sser >d reputation as a warrior, to the chief xvWP ni \is taken you for liis wife! Is it not so? if you like—it is of no importance to me,.^ oca i have placed an obstacle between your p-* 1 h intimacy, which, if set aside, will as surel} ui( rit him his lead. I know my country-womei are obstinate, even to the sacrifice of life, in pursuing the bent >f their attachments; and that, tf leap from a lory tree, or strangle themselves will the rope, is hr from an uncommon thing anongst them, but” lie continued, laughing, “ rry the tears ircni your pretty black eyes —let yoir heart be gay,md I am sure my people will nit deny t me the serit of having chosen the fairesidaughL ter of Ratahuna for my bride. Poor loki J ] _ have noloubt lie weeps tor you to-nipt—but 1 f to-morrev lie will forget his loss in the noice of some otk attractive taie.’” j r “He lay forget me,” said the /'*’/, cryng, t “but [ an not forget him; he/® 3 been my t /

playmate from infancy, he has plucked the sweetest Kareka’s for my use, and when food was failing, he threaded the intricacies of our forest, so that he, and he alone, might bring me the cool and refreshing tawarrah; he lightened my labour when it was the work of women alone —and when my limbs trembled under me, as I returned to the pah, he would support me with his arm, and I forgot my weariness. Besides, I was his betrothed wife, but with your powerful influence you have broken that sacred tie, and dispelled the sweetest hope I had in life—and why may I not weep ? You laugh at my tears and my misery—but I heed it not! I will starve where I am —you cannot force me to swallow your food! and I may at least continue my sorrow: it is the only tribute I can offer to him from whom I have been torn. —And in those feelings wi 1 I die ; —for never shall Moki say, I flew willingly to the arms of another.’’

“ Enough, Enough, my girl, I will not trifle with your grief; I love you more than ever for your beauty and spirit,—but we will live by ourselves for a time ; and then you must remain with my tribe as the sacred bride of Apanui.”

“ Without there, sleepers,—at day light, should there be a propitious sky, we start to sea, and land me on the desolate lizard’s rock. My bride will go. Our mutual vows shall be pledged amidst the roaring surf, and the reptile race alone shall form the bridal train.”

The morning was splendid; the land’breeze was sufficient to carry the canoe rapidly through the water, and our Maori Petruchio with his Katherine were landed at their destination. A fit of sullenness had evidently taken possession of the girl—for she spoke to no one, or seemed to notice any thing. A basket or two of dried kumeras were left by the people of the canoe ; and after a crying farewell, she dashed through the waves, speeding her course homewards.

Two days afterwards, some of the tribe went off with the intention of persuading them to return, when to their great surprise, the first thing they saw on approaching the rock, was the lady sitting with her arm very lovingly placed round the neck of her husband ; both were smiling—and no doubt, the blood rushed to her cheeks at meeting the party, though her skin might not be sufficiently transparent to admit of its being seen. The tale is pleasantly told by old gossips of the tribe, and goes on to say, that the terrors arising from the close vicinity of the lizards, crawling about in ail directions, the threatening sound of the surf thundering against the rocks, completely dispelled all her repugnance to her lord ; an amicable conversation commenced, which continued with a mutual interchanging of civilities till the canoe reached the island, when both immediately sprang in, and the bride’s exertions with the paddle were soon conspicuous, and her voice loudest in animating the crew to speed their return to a home she had so soon learnt to anticipate with pleasure. They may both be seen at this day as pleasant, and obliging a couple as you can find in the tribe ; one thing I particularly remarked, that although years have passed away, there is more tendresse in their ordinary intercourse, with a playfulness of manner to each other, that would tell of a courtship not yet ended, or of a married couple living still on most excellent terms.

In visiting poor Mold’s tribe, curiosity led me to enquire for him : I ;ound be had consoled himself for the loss of his first love, and had taken to himself two handsome wives, who cultivate potatoes, kumeras, and taro, sufficient to enable him to live a life of New Zealand ease and luxury. Slander will out —but I have heard, his ears are occasionally dinned by some little jealous differences between the ladies.

TTlff and having some connexion with peculiar link to tracing > to observe, as a volcanic action in this interestin made by there are several rocks at a e-.iA COuntr y, that main land, which are perfectly barren oP-'BsJife? vegetation and yet they are the resorts of the* lizard of a large species. The one on which the hero and heroine of this little tale landed, looks scarcely more than two hundred yards square and, passing it at sea, presents nothing but the* bare rocky surface to view. The lizard is a reptile which the native women look upon with superstitious fear.