A LITTLE ANCIENT HISTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 304, 28 December 1904, Page 3

A LITTLE ANCIENT HISTORY.

On Tuesday a representative of the Daily News had an opportunity of learning something of the significance of the banners displayed at the Maori Village. The banners were prepared umk'i the direction of the late chief Kahui, who on his death-bed communicated the history to his brother Tauroa, the chief in charge of the natives taking part In the demonstration. From Tauroa the pressman loani't all the history, Mr \V. Gray Kindly acting as interpreter. ]»•■». lirst ilt niiay he as wall to mention <hat the poi dancers appear in black as a symbol of mourning for the late chief.

The scene in the fresh morning was one of striking picturesiiueness, |as, pencils and notebooks in hand, the visitors squatted in front of the big wlvare, Tamoa standing in th» full flush of manhood explaining, with the poetic imagery of his race, the history of t his : forefathers, the white interpreter ' mtorposinig in Maori and then translating into the

; "korero I'okeha." The curious at- ' titudes of the other natives, both male and female, who watched with interest the nimble-fingered "men who make it the write," lent colour to a sceac which is fast becoming rarer and rarer in occurrence.

This then is the story unfolded by Tauroa : As mentioned in a previous issue the topmost flag on the' flagpole in the village is white, ' red, and .yellow. The white hears a representation 'of Mount Kgmont, symbolic of Tahurangi, the great ancestor of the Tanuiaki natives, who livid long before the advent of the whites, an event signified by ;hv red section, typifying the time oi murder and bloodshed ; the yellow section, tearing the date 1857, is commemorative of the renunciation of I'otatau as king, the word I'opokorau i (dogs) being the opprobrious applied to the Taranaki natives in consequence of their action. The second banner is yellow, with the inscription Okurukuru; representative of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, in ISai. Okurukuru was the confiscation boundary south of New Plymouth. North of that the land was sold for blankets, pijies, pots, and flsh-liook's. The red flag, next in order, bears the name Wailara, and the date 180(1 ; the significance being that then there was war all over the land. At the bottom of the stafT is a large white flag with the legend "Te Ilaeata llangimarie, 1866." "Haeata" means streak of morning light, signifying through Ifcace fch-.n brought about light has been thrown upon the people. The two pois on the flag indicate that the peace has continued on the land, and that the people have come here tcr show tlieir joy at its continuance ; the poi signifies that the women. now hold sway to give pleasure instead oi war to the warriors. The Maori king has been altogether abolished, the natives recognising King Kdward. At the entrance to the pah floats a flag, bin:, red, and white, bearing the word Kurupu, 1851. This is emblematical of the division of the natives into tribes. The Ngatiawa tribe had its boundary to the north of New Plymouth; Paritutu was the boundary of the southern division of the Taruaaki tribe. Te Kakapio te Har.gi was chief of the northem natives ; Kuaturiwhati bring over the southern tribes. Another boundary was fixid at' the southeastern spur of Mount Kgmont, at -a pah known as Kakaratonga, where the natives fought amongst themselves. This line divided the Taranaki tribes: from th'j Ngatiruanui. The llawera natives own all the land from the southern boundary to Pa lea.