REVIEW.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 810, 9 September 1887, Page 30

REVIEW.

‘‘The Ancient History of the Maori,” by John White (Government press). Messrs Lyon and Blair, Wellington. This book has already attracted much attention, and provoked warm discussion among readers, who regard it from widely differing points of view. It has been attacked; and defended, vilified and praised, until a. very undecided opinion must occupy the mind of the man who has not yet perused the work, but who looks to the newspapers for guidance as to the kind of book he should purchase, its value or worthlessness. With all this defence and attack, no real review of the “Ancient Histoiy of the Maori” has been written, nor has a synopsis of its contents been issued as a guide to- public opinion by anyone well versed in the subject on which it treats. A mere' glance through the pages of a technical work gives no sufficient ground on which. to> form an opinion, and still less whereon to guide tlie opinions of others.. A novel, or a book of travel may be sufficiently well reviewed in a cursory way ; but it is quite unfair and misleading to suppose that such a skimming of the surface will do justice to a work only to be rightly weighed by an expert in the subject.. The history of this book is, briefly, as; follows :—Some seven years ago the: Government of the day instructed Mr White to prepare for publication all the legends he had collected concerning the mythology and history of the Maori race. The expression ‘ ‘ had collected” is important, because it meant, not that>; Mr White should proceed to visit the - old 1 chiefs and extract information from/them, but that he should gather together: • and 1 collate all the scattered papers . and memoranda in which for half a century he had noted the songs, traditions, &c., of the Native people ; still, of course,. adding to these as he worked, with alb obtainable legends of old time. The' instructions were given to hinnas-toone- peculiarly fitted for such work ; not only by his complete mastery over the - different dialects of : the Maori language,- but on account of his wellknown and'appreciated desire for investigation of these subjects —his scientific hobby since childhood. It has beefri represented tha± this work has. occupied seven years,, but a false idea will be propagated if such a notion, so industriously circulated, obtains credence. This first volume- commences a series which will embody the; result of a long lifetime of intelligent labor. The second and third volumesare printed but not yet bound ; others are-being translated and in progress. In opening; the book, we find that the preface; gives- us in a laconic manner the raison; d’etre for the work. No words could add 1 to tlie weight of the author’s introduction in the mind of any lover of useful knowledge. He tells us that the aged-priests held on in a tenaefous and taciturn manner to the ancient legendary lore of their race.. That it was regarded as a matter of impiety, nay, even of deadly• danger, to impart the old history and. toi recite the potent incantations their ancestors had given them. _ They said “Out gods are not annihilated ; they- are only silenced by the superior influence of the European God. We are still in the power of our Maori gods, and if we divulge the sacred lore' of our ancestors, the gods will punish us with death.” From men holding such views, we can never hope to gain a perfect insight into the most valuable parts of the. sacred, esoteric teaching of the old priesthood. However, to a man in such serious earnest as Mr Wliito, difficulties melt away—by taking advantage of every favorable circumstance, by dint of persuasion, and by' opportune use of the right moments, he has managed to obtain valuable information long kept secret. He lias evidently felt, and makes us also to feel, a deep conviction — “ That in all ages Every human heart is human ; That in even savage bosoms . There are longings, yearnings, strivings, F >r the good they comprehend not; That the feeble hands and helpless, Groping blindly in the darkness. Trust God’s light hand in that darkness, . And are lifted up and strengthened." It may well be asked, “ How is it that missionaries and others long resident in this country knew nothing of these important matters ?” The answer is, that to those who taught that. the ancient religion was. a worship of devils ; that all not banned as the work of the Evil One was to ho mocked down and. laughed .at ; to these, the priests and wise men of the displaced faith would nover divulge the real secrets of thoir worship. It has; boen rosorved for Mr White to show to* us a majestic hidden beauty in those old prayers and songs, wonderful glimpses into a 'spiritual life dwopdudden under apparently foolish (and doubtless, garbled) legions of deities, domi-god*,.and heroes. Mr White baa done this, lira characteristic maimer. Ho has given us very few of his own. words, voiy little of comment, bub a. literal translation of the actual, speech written down as it flowed frdhi the mouths.of men, old at t-ho time of the dictation, and most of them now possessed of. the Great Secret,., This literal translation was essentially the work the ] author was. called upon to do. It is not so much ior any remarks, of his own that the book is valuable, but for the collection a»d transcription, of records which could not now be otherwise acquired, and of material which, if not gathered in this veneration, would ho lost to the student of ethnology and philology for ever. Tins fact alone would stamp the value of the book, and justify the instruction of the Government to Mr White for its preparation.

The opening pages concerning the College of Instruction, called ‘ ‘ Wharekura, ” are deeply interesting. Except the imperfect allusions of Mr Taylor in “Te Ika a Maui,” readers have yet had no literary acquaintance with this strange collegiate institution of the native race. It seems • to have been a complete university for the teaching of agriculture, astronomy, history, theology, etc., in which the sons of chiefs were instructed by the priests, and where the great men of the tribe attended for the purpose of adding dignity and accuracy to the lessons by their presence and supervision. The pupils attended for four or five years until they were passed by the chief priest and examiners. The whole of the proceedings were intricate with many restrictions and much tapu ; but it cannot be doubted that oral instruction communicated in a way so fenced in with carefully devised rules, enabled traditions, songs, &c., to be handed down through the generations in a way more to he depended on than by any other thinkable process except that of literature. The parts of the book dealing with the creation, the stories of Tawhaki, Tane, Tiki, Rata, Rehua, &c., are only valuable as variations of well-known stories. The tale concerning the “ Rebellion of Spirits,” and their expulsion from heaven, is a new and most interesting relic of the past. We feel confident that this story will be read with deep attention by European mythologists, and will provoke much comment among those who make it their pleasure to collect evidence coinciding with their own theories or in opposition to the theories of others. The most important of the new legends is that of the Deluge. The possession of a distinct tradition of the Deluge has been often denied to the Polynesians by those who had a, . mere smattering of knowledge of the subject. “A Bible story heard from, missionaries and corrupted ” is a sentence so easily said, and so convenient for those - who will not take the trouble of the necessary research, that it is no wonderit has been so often used. No one whose opinion is of weight in the matter doubts that there is a Polynesian tradition of the • Deluge, and that the Marquesan account is a bona fide and native legend of the > great cataclysm. In Now Zealand n@» » trustworthy tale has been made public till the advent of Mr 'White’s book—the previously known allusions or fragments: of stories concerning “the overturning’ of the Mataaho ” or “the sea of Ruatapu- ” (names of deluges) being incomplete and hazy. In the “ Ancient • Maori ” we here get the supposed names of men famous in pre-diluvian times; - the cause of the catastrophe ; the floating over the drowned world ; the offering-up of sacrifice op. landings There will not be wanting those persons who, on account of parallelism with som incidents in the Mosaic account, wiL question the authenticity of certain passages, and exclaim that bias or- prejudice has led to the interpolation of these portions* This will' not be: done by the diligent student of 'Polynesian. He will understand that (as in the Marquesan legend) the whole story _ is saturated with the true Polynesian spirit, and contains allusions of the value of which most readers (perhaps including even Mr White himself)’ are not aware. Important differences- which might be easily suppressed or rounded off, and an apparently childish'" style of narration, would have been attended to by excision, had the desire of adding to or of making coincident occupied tlie mind of the author. This absence of 'suppression ... Or alteration suggests another important point—that of the very literal’translation. . It is the close, word-for-word, following - • of the legend as recited by some old priest-' which has called forth such a storm of prurient indignation > from those a contemporary justly - calls “ the nice men with nasty ideas;’” The uncivilised man uses words openly which the civilised man knows also,». but uses with bated breath or in coteries only. If'in translating the native words for parts- of the human body into-' ‘‘decent. Latin equivalents ” Mr White' offends a small loud section of people he Jhas yet; done good service to science- in the modtest depreciation of self r which will ? not allow” him to he the autocratic jtidge to say “ That part is important ; this; part is worthless.” Perhaps the* part deemed unimportant or- scandalbtrs by the mere surface-reviewer may be of enormous value to the,'linguist or- the historian, whose mind does not dVell on or search out indelicacies: Here w© must pay our- tribute of commendation to Messrs Lyon and Blair, publishers, , for their inqbpepdent and courageousaCtion in btiyiiuy up the whole edition from the While it was no doubt perfectly right foi’ the-Government-to listen for a moment to .the shriek of ’ those whovfOund a “ mare's nest ” of evil' in the book, on consideration it wasMecidod to- shortly re-issue in an altered form. A private firm, however, here stepped' forward and 1 made an offer for tllo- whole edition- unaltered*, thus, showifig their sense of its; high-, value and their scorn for its calur©-. ilia tors. It is not improbable that tile excellent advertisement given .by the momentary- suppression of the . work unjustly may yield a rich harvest to Messrs Lyon and' Blair, as wpfl' as extend the circulation of the book. Before concluding our notice we musk call attention to one especially excellent part of this book —the translation of tlie Maori songs. It is a perfect revelation to most people that images of such sublimity and beauty could be found in the Native language or its poetry. We give one example. Tane, the creative deity, is searching in the

forest -for the “ tapu,” and making the discovery of m&n. “Seeking? earnestly seeking in the gloom, ■ on the coaTst-lin©—— On the bounds of light of day. Looking into night, •Night had conceived The seed ot night. . . The heart, the foundation of night, Had stood forth self-existing Even in the gloom. It grows in gloom — The sap and succulent parts, The life pulsating. And the cup of life. The shadows screen The faintest gleam cf light. The procreating power, The ecstacy of life first known, And joy of issuing forth From silence into sound. Thus the progeny Of the Great-extending Filled the heaven’s expanse ; The chorus of life Hose and swelled Into ecstacy ‘t hen rested in Bliss of calm and quiet.” We cannot say to the author, ‘‘Stop your valuable work of collecting traditions and give us more poetry.” But one .almost instinctively feels that no one has yet come forward who can present these songs as Mr White can; and we shall look forward with pleasure, not only to receiving the other volumes, _but to the hope,of s'eeing many other Native songs translated by him into stately and majestic rhythm.