MAORI WAR DANCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11510, 5 October 1915, Page 5

MAORI WAR DANCE.

PERPLEXED TURKS. , ] " ATTACK BY CANNIBALS." An officer of the New Zealand -con* tingenr at the Dardanelles describes in | The Tim.?s " a Maori war dance, and toils, a story. ''4 About, bo says, a month after the first landing at Gallipoli a group of men were sitting round the entrance to* a. dug-out 0)1 the seaward side of Gaba . 'Tepe. Jn their midst squatted a Greek interpreter, translating into very English some of the news contained t- copy of the Constantinople •• T.mi»i.' M The article said, alia:--"Information is still lacking as composition of the enemy's forces, it appears from indications re<<ehAeaWH from Europe that they must _ eonsjsfc chiefly of black men from Africa and 'fflM Australia. Thus the Straits for £bo ip>f> time in lr'siorv have to endure, at- WM tack bv cannibals." ... ■ JH No wonder the listening Australians -MM ami New Zealanders laughed uproari- .« ously. _ •• :H The many-coloured British force, at ■■ Gallipoli has now been strengthened by « the arrival of the Maori contingent, 9 diieet descendants of most chivolroiis aim 1 warlike ancestors, to whom • tho poaka-roa. or "long pig,"' as a human jn'nt v.as termed, vra* a ieacv. Nowadays the Maori, instead of i attening his slaves on Alan a Island, his "tune, if he is ambitious, In i pVn.iui; l. ; > M.A. degree or in passing 'Jfl }>•„ accountancy examinations, YJu>.f! men who landed at Gaba Tepa j are the first Polynesian troops to bo bronchi. oversea to light for the Mother Country, and if the spirit of their an-fv-stor.-' >•! ill Hves they will do it well*. In the afternoon tho Maoris began to n'ic ihemst>:ves in, and tßfcy made their 'bivouacs in an old watercourse oa the let.'- fnmk. Near the beach two s'Va.rinx \ oung privates, working with a wiii. dug into a Turkish grave—a grim rrfiad;- 1 !* of the first days of the attack. '.r; S their initial experience of the | realities of war. and they went hurriedly and dug elsewhere. j THE HAKA. 'Hior. ihe Pakeha ('white mail) general ( . a!!K . along and addressed them, and afterwards' occurred a scene that no counterpart in the weird and varied anna!* of the Dardanelles. Tiii' Maoris, privates and. oflioers, iin-d up. Wiih protruding tongues and a rvilni-.iVal slapping of hands on thighs jinj t -l t<. with a deep concerted aending abhurtly, then began the Maori hnka—the war dance, fehrill and | -jsc leader intoned the solo parts, the chorus crashed out. As tho iht.eers became more animated the bfeab v r >r vheir feet, echoed through the gullies <n Gallipoli.' The leader now tieiveiv. 1 now* his voice sank to a neerie , still perfectly audible, and an In' crouched low to the ground so the men behind him posed. Suddenly, after a I'OiM'i'rted crasli of voices, the chant ended with a sibilant hiss, a stamp of the right foot, and the detouation of pa bus slapping the hard ground. A hnrdrcd yards away in the Turkish trendies perplexed Moslems listened to this hlood-eurdting serenade, and one of ; iSu'in in explanation produced his copy of the "Tanin." Ominous nods aod headJinkings followed it* reading: " Kor the first tini:* in history itie Hi raits have had tn endure attack by rmiba Is." And the leader of tho haka, a fullblooded Maori,. wrote M.A., LL.B., ■ alter !ns name, and spoke better Eng-!;-li ihau many a white man.