The Passing of the Maori

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13355, 3 August 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Passing of the Maori

IX'iTvODUC'KD DISKASKS. In hi.- oioginal stale Maori s-.-eir.s to have btui id ally h. altliy. As a usual ihing he only died of n'd age. unless lis we:«T slain in battle, or fe'l a victim to m;>::kiit:i. or wittl'.ciaft. Tradition states that Mime six genualions ago —perhaps 150 y.ars—.: plague, which appears to hav: "been a kind of spotted fever, swept over the ti.untiy witii wry fatal lvsulis. In Taiamt.i. a very futile and populous district, inland of th? Kay of Islands, the number of deaths was so great thai, tho snivivors cleaved out in a general stainpel-, kaving the p'aie to be occupied by t'u> Xgapuhi. who spread from Hokiunga. It is vsry prob.ible, however, that as many of the deaths oecuned from panic as from the effects of the disease. Tho visitation passed away, le;iving no evil results, but with advent of the pakeha new diseasescam?, and came to stay. Certain (venereal) complaints which appeared" for the first time, do not .seem to have made the havoc there might have been expected", though thtre is"little doubt that they largely hclpc.! to lower th" system and weaken its. power of" nsisiante to other maladies. Uy great good fortuns smallpox has never made its appearance among the Maoris, but measles and tvphoid fever his proved most fatal. Toe former has swept through the count :v cm siviral occasions, sometimes ah.nu.st exterminating whole settlements, as, e.g., when only two individuals escaped out of a population of 300 in a kainga near the Molyneaux Rver. The remedies used for the" measles were often more fatal than the disease itself. Finding that a, bath in cold water would cause the spots to disappear whole parties; would immerse themselves in a running stream, with—as might be expected—the most fatal rcsulas. Typhoid fever makes its appearance every fcV years, and once it 1 has visited a settlement" it s sure to recur whenever ths atmospheric and oth-r conditions are favourable for its development. Of late years many of the native school-teachers hava tried to cope with this insidious diseasei. They have supplied the Maoris with medicine", and have instructed them in the elements of the rules of health; but from want <>f proper sanitation and from the impossibility of getting any course of treatment earned out, tIK-ir efforts have been mostly unavailing. Kesides. the Maori is at all" times an unsatisfactory patient. Once ! his vitality falls below a eel tain point he loses heart, and frequently dies from the UK re want of an effort to live. From an epidemic of typhoid fever 100 died iu a, village in the North out of a 'population of 5C3 a few years ago, at a time when almost everv settlement had a similar visitation. Asthma and consumption probably always existed am-ng the Maoris to a certain extent, but under the healthy conditions that obtained in their primitive state their prevalence was greatly limited. There is no doubt that the receptivity of the native for tlses' and their contingent diseases—bronchitis and pneumonia—has proportionately increased with the generally lowered tone produced by the causes already enumerated. Ai, the present time, throughout the North—the region iu which the contact between the races has been the longest and most intimate —it ir. rare to find a really ronnd Maori. Most of the old people arc troubled more or with asthma; while amongst the young and apparently the more robust, cases of consumption develop with marvellous rapidity.

THE HUI. One of the most fat;d mediums for the propogation and spread of disease is the modern hui. There have, of course, always been huis. They are in fact an essential feature in Maori economy; but J'it; modern hui possrsses certain elements which did r.ot obtain in the old days. A hui is a gathering of the tribe, the hapu. or the family, and may be held for any purpose of common interest, whether political, social, or religious, for a tribal meeting, for th? welcome of distinguished visitors, for a marriage, or a funeral. Any Maori is free to assist at a hui, and European visitors are always made welcome. In a very large hui. to which parties come from a distance, it is not unusual for them to bring contributions of provision:;, but the tangata whenua, or local Maori:;, are always considered the entertainers, and it is ;•- point of honour for them to supply as large a quantity of the very best that the tribe or settlement can afford, even if they have to go short for months afterwards. L'p to some 20 years ago it was customary for th? .entertainers to erect temporary sheds of raupo or nikau to servo as sleeping places for the visitors, the discussions being carried on in the open air. Of late years, however, it has become the practice to have in <very settlement of importance a large ball, built of sawn timber, to servo .th • double purpose of hostelry and meeting house. Although the style and dimensions vary considerabiy with the importanie of the settlement, th.genera! p'aii is the s-imc. The hall is a long building entered from the 'tid. A bare strip, som? eight or ten feet wide, runs no the centre of the iloor. and the snace between this and the side Avails is littered down with fern or mange-manse, cov.rsd with mats of green l!ai. This serves as a sle o pinir place for the Maoris, who lie with iheir heads towards the wall, from which they are separated by a kind of narrow trough, tilled with fern, which acts as a genera! spitoon. Each Maoii on entering tak<s his place—a kind of seniority being observed —! he "principal men oc ciipving the upper end. and the women and children .rath, ring uvar the door. The food, which is cooked outside, i; set. on the Iloor in the central space, the Maoris squatting in a. row along each side. The business—if there is any to be dour—ls conduct :d by a .«ort of informal debate, which is often can id on far into tho night, and th- hui. for whatever purpose it may Ipivo" been calbd together, usi'-il!y lasts "ur.iil the stock of provisions shows sign of giving out. ft would be impossible to conceive of a more p.rfect. medium for the dissemination of disease than the hui. as it is now conducted. As il is' important to have plenly i.f food the larger n-.-clings are held, if po.v.-ib'.-. m oil after the crops have b'C!! harvc-ted: that is to say. in the laic :;-.;;ui:i:s. when tiu- weather is often cold ;:;i 1 wt. A crowd of men. women, and children af packed tngeih-r. more closely i bin the pes. engers on ;■ n emigrant siiip. A l;;:gv- percentage ale stili'eiing from smr.c

pulmonary complaint, or from seme inherited constitutional delicacy, which renders them peculiarly accessible to infection. Night and day liny are lying in (lamp clothes--as they nrv:'r wholly iindn-.r and breathing a niephytic atmosphere, poisoned by the exhalations from so many bodi.s, and from the general spittoon. A person Mirft ring from influenza comes in. and. in a few hours the disease has gone the round of the house. Sometimes a death occuis, and the body is kept for days in the vicinity of the food, while th.-. tangi (mourning) goes. on. diseases contracted at the liui are taken away to the homes of the. visitors, where fresh centres of infection arc started, and although a new supply of bedding is provided ihs germs remain about the building to b; nursed into life on llu next occasion it is used.