TE KOOTI'S BODY.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12769, 10 February 1910, Page 1

TE KOOTI'S BODY.

A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE. In giving an account of his recent journey through the Urewera Country (.says the "Poverty Bay Herald"), the Mayor of Gisborne (Air. W. D. Lysnar) made a singular announcement respecting the circumstances surrounding the end of the notorious rebel, Te Kooti. ••When in the Urewera Country recently/ remarked Mr. Lysnar, "1 made inquiries as to what had been done with the remains of Te Kooti, which, I understood, had been buried near Whakatane. On making further inquiries I found that the body had been exhumed. The grave was found open, with the corpse arid the coffin gone on the fourth day after To Kooti's burial. What became of the body is a mystery. The natives explain that he has risen again on the third day, like Christ, and has gone to heaven. I ascertained an interesting story, however, from a person whom I consider very reliable — a man who had been endeavouring to discover what had become of the body. Meeting one of Te Kooti's leading supporters one day, a native who was generally reagrded as one of the few who knew the secret, my informant, observing the old Te Kootiite was under the influence of drink, asked him, 'What did you do with Te Kooti's body?' The Maori replied, 'We take him to Gisborne. It took us a week to get him there, as we carried him at night. It was a disagreeable undertaking. We took him out of the coffin and wrapped him in six tents. Te Kooti had been dead some time.' The locality where the body was conveyed to in Gisborno the native resolutely declined to disclose. "Such a thing," continued Mr. Lysnar, "is only in keeping with native custom. Old chiefs of standing, and there are few who had not at some period of their career caused the death of others', were frequently buried in an unknown spot, the reason being that otherwise the relatives of the rangatira's enemies surely would desecrate his grave in revenge. It is quite likely this custom was carried nut in the case of Te Kooti."