THE PEOPLE OF THE FISH.

Otago Witness, Issue 3881, 31 July 1928, Page 81

THE PEOPLE OF THE FISH.

By

Ian Mackay.

(Copyright.—For the Otago Witness.) J “ I agree, pakeha, that it is indeed c a loathsome thing, the- lowest form of t life among our fishes, and I am sorry t you have again to cut your line.” £ I grunted with disgust, as for the third £ time that morning I vigorously sliced £ away the hooks around which that un- £ sightly mass of slime and filth (I cannot < describe it better) known as a blind ( eel, had wrapped itself. The ugly con- , glomeration slid over the side and out | of sight. f “ While the tide is on the turn, Ma- j kaire, and the terekihi will not bite again for a time, let us smoke, and I will,tell ] you the story of Ngati-ika, the people j of the fish.” 1 We had anchored off what is known as the Red Rocks, composed of that i peculiar stone termed jasperoid, which j form a high cliff on the western Wei- < lington coast some miles from Island Bay. On each side there are towering ; hills yvith features plainly showing to , what good use they were put by the oldtime Maori. < “ The big hill to the right, pakelia, ; was their pa. The one further along was the main stronghold of Ngati-wai-nui—a fearless and warlike tribe. , “ Now, Ngati-ika were what you would call a degenerate race for those days of incessant raiding and killing. They lived only on fish, and did not partake 1 of human flesh in any forth. They did not go to war, and had no slaves on which the younger men could practise the right .ideas of fighting. They were a low lot of people altogether. Their neighbours .did not war with them in any way, for they were beneath the notice of Ngati-wainui, who in any case did not kill for killing’s sake. Moreover, there was no succulence in their flesh. It was rank, like the bad fish that was the tribe’s chief delicacy. Thus they lived, and I have heard it said that when the south wind blew the odours which came from the village made the young women of Wainui ill, and the young men hurriedly undertake a special snaring trip to the thick bush on the other side of the ridge. “ This could not go on for ever. The end came in sight when one evening a great dead whale went ashore on the beach below Ngati-ika. It was the hot weather. . . . There was great rejoicing among these low-born people, for it is said that the fishing had not been good that season. And so, young and old, they started cutting up the whale, working night and day, and gorging to their heart’s content the while. But it was a large fish, and the weather grew warmer. With it the smell made life unbearable for Ngati-wainui. “ The councillors held a meeting, and there was much talk in between the spasms of painful coughing. The tohunga had the final say. “ ‘ O, Rewaua.’ said he to the chief, ‘ I have consulted our patron gods, and they have told me this: Ngati-ika are to blame for the presence of this dead monster on our beach. If we exact utu, and kill all their people, the fish still remains, so of what profit? Would it be better to shift the fish ourselves, or to shift our village? In my wisdom I have decided that the only way is to shift our village. At the same time (and here -the tohunga spoke in a voice of thunder) I will lay a curse on these low people that will prove a fitting punishment.’ - “ And so, Ngati-wainui migrated along the coast to the Karori, easing their feelings by completely exterminating the smaller tribes on the way, and winning much fame as a war party to be respected and feared. “As the tohunga had promised, the curse was laid. A great storm arose. High dashed the waves up to the very foot of the cliffs, and when dawn came the whale was washed out to sea. “ When Ngati-ika saw the calamity that had befallen them, there was wailing long and loud. The more adven turous, some hundreds in all, ran to their canoes, and set out after the drifting . carcass, calling on the particular atua (god) to help them. And, when they had almost reached the floating fish, the [ storm came on again with greater force. All the canoes were swamped, and no man reached the shore alive. > “ The women and children had I gathered on the cliff top, and when they [ saw the disaster they started the wail- • ing chant for the dead, at the same time , cutting their bodies with the sharp shells, . as was the custom. And the blood ran » down to stain the rocks below, and red » as you see them now they will remain »' for all time. And the spirits of the r dead were changed into blind eels, doomed 1 to ever lie in their low slime and filth 1 on the ocean bed.

“ When the evening is still, it is said that the eerie sound which comes from Sinclair Head there, as the water rushes through some cavern deep down, is the lamentation of the blind eels, as the spirits of the long dead Ngati-ika, for the great prize which was lost to them in the storm of long ago. ' For, as I have indicated, they were a greedy, degenerate lot. “ Tims, Makaire, was the curse of Ngati-wainui fulfilled.”