THE MAORI TANGI.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9295, 22 June 1906, Page 1

THE MAORI TANGI.

A Pathetic Ceremony,

" The Totara Tree Has Fallen."

Some Beautiful Poetic Tributes

(Specially written for the Oamaru Mail.)

By Telegraph. Wellington, Juno 21. "The skies arc pouri and lowering. It is fitting, for we also aro pouri and dark at heart." This was tho sentiment expressed this morning by an old Maori chief as tho melancholy bands of native men and women filed into Parliament House to farewell in their own wild poetic fashion the remains of their great white Kaumatua. Dark 6kies and whistling winds wero indeed in keeping with the sad coronachs of the Maori mourners, who from all parts of tho city made their way soon after daybreak to tho house of assembly, I hero to await the coming of the "Tupapa.ku." For days past they had been Hocking into Wellington, oa.ge.r to display after tho fashion of their ancestors their a-rolia for the dead Premier "Tehefana." For nights past tho wailing choruses of tangi songs had resounded from a hall in -the vicinity of Parliament House, where the nafivo people had .gathered to rehearse their "inihis" and'lhoir ancient funeral dirges. To-day thoso preparations culminated in a thrilling mournful ceremony, the most .affecting one of .the kind that has been held in the capital city. "Haere ra, haere ■ ra"—Go 0 friend! Farewell, a. long farewell ! In tho picturesquely direct fashion of the native raco the remains were addressed as if the spirit still lingered to 'hear the last good-bye. '• Farewell! Go' ye by the great pathway

of the dead. This the last road, that all of us must tread." Tho Maoris who assembled for the tangiliana numbered 300 or 400, and included representatives of nearly <>very tribe in New Zealand. "A fine sot of was (ho comment of many a. pakebn. There wore big prosperous-looking sheep farmers from the Wairarapn and ITa-wUe's Bay ; the chief men of the Ngatikahtmgunui tribe with their uncommonly handsome womenfolk; numerous members of the Aifanga-a-mahakl and Rongowhakakala tribes of the Gisborno district': a. largo contingent, from the principal villages of the Wauganui River : tho Ngalapa and other trilies from Tiirakina and elsewhere; the Ngatirtikawa and Xgatilmia from Otaki; tho Ngatitoa from Waikanao and Porirua : members of the Ngafiewa tribe : some Ngatirua.mii people from Taranaki: several from Tearawa ; the tribe of the "llaora," Hot Lakes; some from Ngaitcrangi, Bay of Plenty, and representatives oven from tho distant Bav of Islands, besides some from the Ng.-iitahu tribe of the South Island. Certain tribes, such as the Waikatos, Uro-w-era, mid others, who could not attend, sent, their "mihi," their messages of sorrow, by wire and (lost to the Native "Minis, tor and to the bereaved family. Mr llono Heke and Mr A. T. Ngata, M.lT.R.'s. Mr F. Phillips (interpreter to the Legislative Council). Mr W. Pitt (interpreter), and a coinin.ittee of native chiefs were the managers of tho gathering, and the arrange incuts in general wore under the approving eve of file Hon. James Carroll, Native Minister, who met, Ids people daily and .ni"ht!v and conferred with them, besides attending to the Ministerial duties of the exceptionally trying character demanded by the events'of the'hist few history-making davs.

The fangihana in Parliament House was to have, begun at 7 o'clock in the morning, but its opening was delayed until 7.45. when the heavy coffin, containing the remains of the late Premier was homo to the lobby of the House of Representatives by a party of New Zealand Permanent, Artillerv. Accompanying it on its removal from the Ministerial residence in Moiosworth street were the chief mourners, Mr Soddon's .sons and other male relatives, and the Hon. tho Premier (Mr Hall-Jones) and other Ministers. A number of Maori chiefs had already placed on the floor of the lobby at the far cud beneath the picture of Queen Victoria a. number of •beautiful flax clonks and mats. Hero tho coffin, borne slowly and reverently through the long aisle of wreaths, was laid at rest. Behind the chief mourners and the Ministers camo a number of old friends of the late Premier. They lingered a few moments in silent sorrow and then nuiotiy left the lobby, owl tho hall of death was free for an ' hour to the Maori people, who wore by this time gathered in the lower chamber awaiting the word to enter the lobby. In addition to Ihe mats, in Maori ideas the "kopaki" or wrappings for the coffin, several chiefs laid some treasured ancestral weapons, tain-has and mores, on the floor beside the coffin as gifts in honor of the dead. Besides the members of Mr Seddon's family there were two or three press representatives present, the only members of tho pakchn public privileged to witness the Maori rites. A woman's high-keyed voice raised in the opening cries of a tangi wail startled the hoavv air of the flower-scented chamber, and' in marched the Maoris in compact body, the women in front. Some 50 women formed this advance guard of the "bringing of the tears." They trod slowly on, turning this way and Ihal. but, ever 'keeping their heads bowed mm'l their front rank nearly reached tic- • ,ll'ni. Beautiful wr.Tuen s<.mo of 'Vise tribcspeople all of birth and xiwmu and nearly all v-ilh blue and lips, the si ill cherWic-d toil.- or -badge and sign of MViWdoiji Th"v all wore black drosses, greenstone jewels and shark;' tenth hung by'blnck ribbon;; fi-run their ears and on their nocks, ami ilieir beads and shoulders were profusely twined, with green leaves and cbaplots. tho Maori insignia of mourning. In their hands, too,' they carried green branches, and with those they kept, time perfect and rJiythmiic to the shrill dirge that they sung,' "llaelraoa- ripiripia" —"Scores of flesh: scarify your bodies as with knives." That- was the burden of their opening song, and they kept, appropriate to it. waving their hands up and down, across their breasts and shoulders in allusion to the olden funeral custom of lacerating and cutting the flesh with flakes of obsidian or with mussclshclls. The privileged of the feminine section of the tribe, in, front of all marched the Wangapui 'chioftnincss Wiki Taitoko, daughter of the late Major Kemp, a woman of commanding presence, one of those wabiues who would have held a pa. in davs of old and fought as well as any warrior. She and Utautan. a lady of rank from the Ngatiapa tribe, gave the finio to Ibe main body of the mourners, aixl "pukiwiad" •md grimaced and contorted their hodi-.s n, the most approved Maori style: fur this was tho "maimai,'' the-drain and danci: ci grief, and from time immemorial tin- Maori wahine has led these strange barbaric coremonies.

_ Behind tho women'were I he in.ii. an interesting commingling of ancient and modern. Some were frock-coat t-\. well.groomed rangatiras .from the Waimrapa andHawke-'s Bay: there,too were vc'vrav.-. of the. old . war days, xivi-nncu' t'r.n.i the upper Wangaiiuii. sheep farmers from the East Capo,"" wood-carvers from Piotorua; ■college-bred,M..H.R-.'s shoulder, to s'fuild.t-r

Jerusalem kainga on the Wnnganni river, bv nanio Poma. Hamuli; a. striking figure, with his deoplv tatooed thin, dark, drawn faeo his siiuare-Khouklered. mien in spilo of his advanced ago, a Korowai mat around Kim, a. ml feathered iciirvoil tniahu iu his hand. Poma- i-s an okl soldier of tin- Queen. Ho held a commission as captain in Major Kemp's native cent inge.nit, on tins Government. skl<\ and fought bravely against, the haniuuis in the Waugaiuii, Taranuki," and East. Coast districts from 1861 up to 1870. lie i.s .about tho last survivor of the gallant band! of fi'iondlies who defeated the up-river haii-haus on Moiiloa Island, in the YYniiganui Kher, in 1861, and saved Waiiganiii town. Another uotabk; okl soldier with a truculent eoek of his eye even now is Tut a. Nihoniho, ho wlio scut a greenstone more to l-or<l Koberls during the. Poor war from tho Ngatiporou country, north of Clisborne. Tnta conies of the blue blood of Ngatiporou, and ho liolds the New Zealand war medal for military service under Major Kopata, in tho Ur'ewcra campaigns of 1869-71. Here, too, is a warrior of another ilk. Tutango Waioiioni, from Paurou, I'atea, ho was a Jiau-.hau of tho haii-haus iu his savage youth, and wns ono of the rebel leader Titikowarn's most- active scouts in the Ta.runalu bush lighting of 1868-69. And "Titni Kara," too, ho 'as he stood tall and, statuesque- by the eolliu side, a whalchono mere in bis hand, was mi old soldier liimself, for when quite a. Imy bo smelt i>owdur and won his war medal, in t.he skinnishes with tho Urcwera. busUmun around tho rugged shores of I-iake Waiknremoimii.. Hut now the lirst wild burst of tho "nmiinai." song subsided, tho swaying woinon, their dark (lowing hair crowned with foliage, seated themselves on the lloor and left, ii, narrow la no through which one. or two ohiofs .advanced to lay line mats beside the other Maori treasures. At llm cofliu side tho bum of weeping rose, led by the old. tattooed ladies of NgatiUaliungunu n.nd. other tribes, seat oil just in front of tho stierod "tupapaliu." Then tho men of Waiigauui led off by their chief, Taliarangi Jteto'Kiaigi, who quivered, a. polished men; in tho <iir, chanted in chorus one of their laments.