THE OUTLAW SPEAKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 57, 21 July 1906, Page 5

THE OUTLAW SPEAKS.

HARE MATENGA,

"The Maori Bushranger,"

Writes to the Editor of "Truth"

From his Mountain Fastnesses, near Gisborne.

Te Eritara E Tarutu. Tenakohe,— I cannot come to you, 0 Great One, who sheddest thy shade over the poor and persecuted, even as .the pohutukawa shadeth the pool wherein the succulent shnimp disporteth himself, l cannot come, oh pakeha. Why? Because my, enemies compass me round about, even as the enemies of the great pakeha singer, Tawhita (David), compassed him, as the p.akeha . puki-puki (Book) tells me, even long belore the Maori, coming, hither from the islands of Hawiki, made his home on the Long White Cloud that is now known to the na-. tions as Nu Terina. So I write to^ you as I was taught m (the white? man's school. O Chief j;. My, life has long >been a hard one ; my, means of getting kai worse even than those of the ,taurikarika of my fathers, who at least, was fed, even if, eventually, he onsht,tangata or wahine, or even to kotiro pai, was eventually killed knd eaten by my fathers, who owned the land. In those good days there was at least food for the wandering Maori. The kumara grew: untended almost and if the wild pig failed or was hard tocapture, at least they could" always kill and eat a taurikarika,: a slave; feast and be filled. Now the Maori eats of te kai a te and it is not good for him. He loses his desire to hunt te poaka, the wild- pig, and the lernroot of his fathers satisfieth! him not. Te tuna (the eel) no longet filleth him, and dried shark or stinfra-? ree no longer comforteth his belly* Aue ! I am alone of the race of my; people. The only true Maori left who liveth as my fathers lived, yet without the kai o te tangata, the baked man, which, when the pakeha was not, m these islands- of Te Ranjgi, iwas :the dish they always longed for, fought for and enjoyed. Kakino tenei korero !!■ I do not dwell upon this <talk. It is the italk of the old men, the Rangatiras who have gone to sleep on the 'bosom of Rangi, the Sky. What I want to korero to you about is the present, the time when the tawa berry ripens not and the sun-dried pipi is not.. Aue i I am alone in' the forest where once the Maori roamed alone m perfect possession and cultivated his kumara -to . eat with his pork, m peace. That was before the pakehgj came to seize and hold, our lands and before a Maori could be put m the white man's prison because he took what te^Atua gave him, to eat and -to use as it seemed good to him. Before Rangi wedded Aotea, the Maori roamed at will, killed and* ate. Now, he is even as the taurikarika white man, whom you, O chief, and I and my people alike despise. I, O great Pakeha Rangatira, broke the laws of the great chiefs o te kianga o te Kingi. I was hungry and the strength of my manhood 1 had gone out of me, even as the flower of the toi-toi which dieth and ieavetii no seed. The white man took iae and pu* me into the prison, where ho scent of thtei wild flowers or smell of the forest was. And like the tui that is caged, I sang not. .My heart iwas.. pouri, all my mana melted, even as the snow on Ruapehu when the fires of Taipo warm it and it runs to swell the streams of wai te tuna, the waters of the eel. The time was heavy and so was my untamed heart ; for the free- i bprn Maori finds the prison far more bitter, than can any pakeha,. used tothe-con-finement of a whare and the •noise of many people. So I brooded on my, wrongs and the hurt of my people and, when, after many days, I was set free, I went to my native bush and said, "no more shall I mix with the pakehas or even with my people, who have learned the ways of 'the pakehas. I will be alone and eat of that te Atua gives for me to eat. 'As long as the forests and the glades and the fern-beds were fruitful, I molested not the pakehas who intruded on my solitude ; but when the cold and snows of winter came over the forest and the mountains, and the weka. the ka-rka and $he fernroot and the tawa berry failed me, lo ! I sought such food as could be found m the camps of the ever-intruding pakeha. And I took of it and was sustained m my solitude. - And for ; this the policemen of tJjie pakeha pursue me and I am as the lonely kiwi on the hillside. Yet truly are these policemen porangi. Yea, they are, mad ! They, think they, can track arid take me. Me, Hare Matenga, even as m their towns* they hunt and capture the .lownlown whito rubbish who steal te roafa (the i loaf) or who rob and beat wahines. They know me not ; neither are'they skilled m tracking. I leave no track, and all the while I watch their walking to and fro m my Wrest and I laugh. 0 Atua, ! how I laugh ! They pass me by as I sit m the fern-brake, or 101 lon the tree-top, and they do not see me or smell me not. And I can hear and smell them afar off. The tu\s and the rurururus have told me long of their coming and the wild pigeons coo of their trail, and what they do. And they think to catch me; me, who know evejtv hill and tree and valley and hiding place ! And now the wild birds tel^me they have sent a tetekata (detective), a man from the place where the Kowamenta sits down, even Werrinta .(Wellington) to be chief of those who hunt me. Ow ! He may be great among the wicked whites, but where I dwell he is . as a whispering wind and to seek and to find me he is nothing. He knows not the paths of the forest. To him the birds tell nothing and lie wasteth his time and gets cold and frozen worse than those who have preceded him. 0 tangata pai ! I am alone ; no' wahine lights my fire, catches fish, and keeps my whare warm for me. I am one against many and often cold and hungry. But I am free and a true Maori ; and I would not change with those of my irace who yield to the pakeha laws, that suit not the true Maori. And for the po-

lioemen and the mean whites who ac- -,\ company and aid them— bah ! I spiK .^ upon them a;nd none of them shall ;• take me until lam pouri and cease to V . care for my freedom.' And this you :j can tell them, O Great White Chief; ; ; for I know "youir heart is big with pity. ' and love for the poor and persecuted x J and you will not betray me to mine -j enemies. .•>'* I have said. Do thou give this my ; _^- word to -those who hunt me. Let' j. them not molest me, for I but live J according to the traditions of my fathers and I Only take what I need\ ' and I need because the pafceha has made my hunting ground very small and has driven away the binis ;ifi<t - the beasts upon which -my •peo;>K» <v old subsisted. You are not \\Vr Hkj others. Your heart is Hg i"or '. his v/anderer and tI».P. outcast. So to voa I say "honiai" V •■■'<}vz?. % - riiiii.t."* n^. Enough; I have mkh'-u. j--^/ HA.RE MATLJNQAi /