RAPAKI MAORIS SLEW TANIWHA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17907, 24 July 1926, Page 2

RAPAKI MAORIS SLEW TANIWHA.

and savage club. GOT “ THE BONE ” FROM OLD MEDICINE MEN. At the special korero of the Savage Club last night in which the proceeds went to the unemployment fund, some interesting facts were revealed by the Great Chief, Savage J. Cuningham. After the installation ceremony, which was performed with due solemnity Savage Hall, Savage Cuningham gave the audience an explanation of the origin of the tokens of his office, the tiki and the bone. The tiki, he said, was a token of great potency, and had been the guide and mentor of the club since time began. The fact that it wore its head slightly on one side was because it once spoke out of its turn at the christening of a piccanini. There was a curious history attached to the bone, which had helped to keep order since the order of savages began. The origin of the bane was a close secret, but the Great Chief thought that on such an occasion it was only fitting that the public should know. This is the solution of the mystery, though one cannot help thinking that it was a special solution for the occa Long, long ago, before the foot o the white man deiilcd the shores oi Aotea-roa, there was a cave on the north side of Lyttelton Harbour, near a great pa that is known in these days as Rapaki. In this cave there dwelt a taniwha, a great, ferocious sea monster that had a body built on the same lines as a crocodile, though it. was a thousand times larger and a thousand times more fearsome. And the taniwha was the terror of the neighbourhood, and even the great Te Rauparaha, who came down from the North Island and conquered all that he saw, avoided the sppt because of his fear of the monster. No one was safe. At last the local chiefs gathered together in a great council, to make a last endeavour to rid themselves of this ever present menace. For many days they sat in earnest consultation, .and one night, when the moon was new, and the spirits of the ancient medicine men were thick in the dusk, the oldest chief of the gathering hit upon a plan. A net was woven out of the flax bush, and cunning hands lowered it over the mouth of the monster's cave. A roast goat was placed outside the cave to entice the taniwha out, and all the warriors of the district gathered round to help in the good work. When the succulent aroma of the goat penetrated into the cave, the monster rushed forth, and was forthwith enmeshed in the trap that was so cunningly laid. With warlike shouts the warriors fell upon their ancient foe, and soon the last spark of life had departed from the great and ugly carcase. When the body was cut open, there was found inside bodies of men, women, pigs, goats, whales and —the bone. From the care of the ancient medicine men, the bone passed into the possession of the club, and for thirty years it ha>, with its sinister influence, kept in subjection the members of the club.