THE SOUTHERN MAORI.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21266, 21 February 1931, Page 2

THE SOUTHERN MAORI.

STRAY PAPERS. Written for the Otago Daily Times. By IT. Beattie.

XXXVIII—FIGHTING IN OTAGO. There seems to be little doubt that in the troublous times when the Kaitahu were seeking to prove indisputably their dominance over Katimamoe in Otago and Southland many small encounters and minor affrays occurred, the details of which have not been preserved. In addition, there were other skirmishes or small lights which are only casually mentioned. That elusive chief, Marakai, seemed to roam about a good deal, his advent usually, like that of the stormy petrel, presaging a storm. It is said of him that he was once in a minor affair at Hakapureirei or somewhere round Te Waewae Bay, and again at Warepa and again in the Clutha district, and that he was a thorn in the flesh to the Kaitahu on numerous occasions.

A fight about which very little seems to be known occurred at “the ford of the Waipahi.” It appears that a J band of Kaitahu met a band of Katimamoe, among whom, said my informant, were the chiefs Marakai, Tu-te-mnkohu, Makakanvaho, and Te Rakitauneke (although it seems to me very doubtful if the lastnamed was then alive). The two parties came to blows, and the Katimamoe were victorious. Among the prisoners was the chief Matauira, and Marakai wished to km him as a dangerous enemy, whilst lu-te-mnkohu interceded to save his life, cin ally Marakai, unfortunately for himself as it later proved, let the captive go.

Marakai is also said to have taken part in the fight on the site of Balclutha in company with the Katimamoe chiefs Kanrahi and Te Wharawhara. The Kaitahn, flushed with victory up Canterbury way, were too confident, and suffered defeat. I cannot place this fight in its exact sequence, but it was probably before vyaitaramea. The dead were left lying about, and the bones remained mute witof the fight for years after, hence the Maori name - f the locality, Iwi-katea (bleached bones). Marakai was captured once or twice and managed to escape by cool daring and stratagem, but he was caught once too often. Tu-te-kawa-a-kuhere made up a war party to go south and Matauira went with him. About Otaraia they met Marakai, who was boldly travelling alone from Mataura Falls to Warepa. Suspicious of their intentions, Marakai made a detour, but was pursued and caught. Brought before Matauira, he was taunted with his identity, and replied in one of those cryptic sentences which delight the Maori and puzzle the pakeha. As Matauira was afraid the captive would reveal his duplicity in plotting against other Kaitahu chiefs he ordered him to be put to death at once.

The war party proceeded on to the Waiau Valley and fell upon the innocent and unsuspecting inhabitants of the Wai-taha-Katimamoe village of Waiharakeke, at what is now Lilburu. For most of. the fighting of the Maori race there was usually a well-defined “ take ’’ or reason, as they had their own standards of right ami wrong. The reasons might seem childish or altogether inadequate to us, but it was “ tika,” or correct, to bo able to give a reason. The cause of a fight might be a blood feud transmittted from father to son; it might be owing to some real or fancied wrong, insult or slight, or to gome infringement of the' etiquette which governed their, conduct, but it was the proper thing to be able to preface the description of every fight with an account of its cause.

My principal informant took me briefly through an account of all the chief battles in Otago (with the exception of two — one at Balclntba and one at Lake Kaitangata) and connected them all up for me by briefly detailing the reasons why they were fought. When he came to Waiharakeke he hesitated, and then sadly admitted there was no reason for it—it was merely a causeless, senseless killing for killing’s sake, and as such stands condemned in Maori estimation almost as much as it does in our eyes. At the taking of Waiharakeke, Tutekawa killed the chief Whetuki, who was an abnormally hairy man, and his war party massacred all the other residents except a few women, and the usual cannibal feast followed. Two meu named Mataawhio and Pane-o-te-kaka, who had been up the river eeling, returned to the village unaware of what had - happened and had a very narrow escape, but eluded their pursuers and vanished into the dense bush. This is said to have been the only fighting in which this Tutekawa took part. Matauira cruised round to the West Coast Sounds, and Matauira Island in Preservation Inlet derived its name from him. On hie return_ to the Te-raka-a-hine-atea pa at Katiki, near Moeraki, he met his fate. This fight at Katike was another internecine struggle through a family quarrel, and had its origin in what we would regard as a trivial matter, but one, strangely to us, that assumed importance in Maori eyes. While the. Maori did not go to the extreme of the Hindu in the rigours of the caste system, no majovdomo in the most haughty of aristocratic households was ever more punctilious in the due_ grading of rank. The fighting at Katiki originated in a childish squabble between the children of two families. A chief’s son fell down during play, and the son ot another chief jumped over his head. When the adults heard of this enormity the matter quickly assumed a serious aspect, for an old grievance was raked np. It appears that in a previous quarrel at Kaikoura among some Kaitahu families Taoka led one side and Te-awha-ki-te-raki led the other, and a few were killed. This left a bitter memory, and when the disagreement occurred at Katiki news spread with surprising rapidity and Te Awha heard it at Kaikoura, and came down hot-foot to take part in it. As Parakiore, Tna-huriri, Te Ruapapa, and others came from North Canterbury to be on the scene also, it can be seen the family and connections were well represented. When they were lined out it seems that the three just mentioned, together with Te Awha, Matauira, 1 okeka, and Te Hemo-kapo were the leading men on one side, while their iclations, Taoka, Te Hau, Wheke, Kabul, Puaka, and Tete led the other side. Te Raupapa and his men had a grievance over the way the food had been allocated on their southward march, and, like the Highland clans which remained inactive at Culloden, they refused to join in the fight, and saw their own side beaten. During the fight Matauira, the father of Te Hau, who fought on the opposing side, was killed by Wheke, and Te-hemo-kapo and'other lesser men also bit the dust. The people who lived in the pa won the conflict, and drove the northerners back the way they had come, and followed up their retreat. Parakiore and his wife were at the rear ot the retreating party when Te Hau and Tete overtook them. They taunted the fugitive on his alleged reputation tor lleetness of foot, and Parakiore answered them with a proverb, and challenged them to a trial of speed. Tradition says he was not only the fastest runner in South Island history, but remarkable also for his wonderful endurance and staying powers. He was a short, thiek-set man of great strength, and one account says he flung his wife over his shoulder, the other says he tucked her under his arm and raced np the lono- beach at Hampden and even though thus burdened he left his pursuers hopelessly in the rear, and both man and wife escaped. And who can refrain from fooling pleasure at such an outcome for this gallant man and hia wahine pai (good wife)? The pursuit after the defeated party trailed along as far as Timaru and then dropped, and that was the end of that family feud. The body of Matauira was burnt. . Taoka is said to have often acted in a cruel, bloodthirsty manner and he used occasionally to wander round the country looking for someone to kill. He brooded over Te Went slipping away to Stewart Island, and longed to light him again. He went as far south as the Clutha Valley and killed a few inoffensive individuals there. It was he who discovered the Waitahu lady, Hine-popohan, hiding in a cave on the Taieri River, and cruelly killed her. After this murder he saw two quiet men approaching in a canoe and he swam out and killed them also. An interesting story is told about the origin of a place name in the Clutha district. Te Hau was returning from a southern foray with various prisoners, including two ladies of rank, and somewhere between Kaihiku and Toiro he met his kinsman Taoka, who informed him that he owned that stretch of country and wquld give it in exchange for the captives. Te

Hau cast his eyes around appraisingly and, noticing a long row of wharea in the distance, consented. Taoka gave the prisoners their liberty, but wed the women to Kaitahu warriors, and one of the two ladies became an ancestress of “ Bloody Jack.” Te Han hastened to inspect his bargain, but found the whares deserted and the doors shut, hence the name of that locality has since been Wharepa (shut house), or (as the southern Maoris do not pronounce the “ h ” in whare), Warepa. Taoka died peacefully at Katiki, and his son, Te Whiwhi, died at Pukeuri. The latter was a contemporary of Te Hau (whose full name was Te-hau-tapu-nui-o-tu), whom the genealogies place as among those born about 1725. His son, Honekai, in common with the chiefs named Taikawa, Waitai the second, and Taue-toro-tika, is classified as having been born about 1750. These dates, while only approximate, allow ns to treat the warfare in some sort of chronological order. As previously mentioned, my chief informant ran through the fights that had occurred in Otago and Southland, but failed to mention two in the scheme he outlined. One of these is the fight at Kaitangata, and as it does not seem to dovetail into the general trend of fighting, it must, until fuller investigation, be regarded as a detached engagement. One old man told me that the Katimamoe had a pa at Taratu, while the Kaitahu had a pa down at the Balloon, a locality known to the Maori as Kotore-a-kinau. A dispute occurred over eeling rights or some such question, and one day when Te Run-a-vvai and hia brother Tuahuriri were out fishing they saw a Katimamoe flotilla coming toward them. They hurried home and collected their forces, and the two parties met in mortal combat about where the Kaitangata township now stands. The Katimamoe suffered defeat and their chief Mokomoko was slain, and, with the others of his side who were left op the field of conflict, furnished a feast for the victors. One of Mokomoko’s legs was hung on a ti (cabbage tree), while the remainder of him was going down the throats of the winners and no doubt furnished many a jest until it was taken from this novel larder a day or two later. From this circumstance the pa near there was henceforward called Kaitakata (to eat men). By this period in our history the fighting was making serious inroads into the numbers of a never too numerous population, and thoughtful men gave the matter attention. More especially was this the case with the losing side, and a descendant of the Katimamoe told me that his tribe had tried to avoid further conflicts by making the locality round Clinton the boundary, the Katitahu being conceded no territorial rights beyond that. A post was erected on the conspicuous hill at Clinton to mark the agreement, and thereafter the name of the hill was known as Poupou-tu-noa (post standing freed from tapu ceremony). But, though one section of the Kaitahu tribe might make an agreement, it did not follow that every section would honour the obligation, and we have seen how family ties did not preent the members of that pugnacious tribe from attacking and killing one another. The Katimamoe had squashed the attempt of the Kaitahu to found a permanent home at Mokamoka, near New River Heads, but half a century later the sons of Te Wera left Stewart Island and founded a pa between Colac and Orepvki. Te Raki-ihia, a prominent Katimamoe chief, usually residing at Warepa, went up to Kaiapoi, the headquarters of the Kaitahu, to propose a peace alliance. He was received with honour and his mission was successful. To mark the occasion he was given a lady named Hine-hakiri, a sister of Te Hau, as wife, while his own sister, Kohiwai, was wedded to Honekai, a son of Te Hau.

[Note.—Correspondence will be dealt with later on. Informative criticism is welcomed.]