MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 August 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

PLURAL MARRIAGE. (Recorded by J.H.S. for "Times-Age.”) Not being burdened with at least ton thousand thoughts from reading, the brain cells of each successive generation of Maoris were, according to Sir Frederic Treves, "clear as crystal and receptive as a flashlight film." Hence perhaps their marvellous memories. This feature of the Maori, more clearly realised by us in those who had quickly learned to speak, lead, and write our language, caused embarrassment to many missionaries from whom intelligent chiefs had literally learned the Bible from beginning to end. No Maori would approve of "reading" from the pulpit or at any ceremony such- as marriage, christening, or burial. They realised how much more impressive were the “spoken words” recited with feeling. Men were warriors and hunters, far more liable to death and disablement than women whose mission in life was to produce and to increase the ranks of fighters and hunters, or to cultivate, cook, and conserve the food. To attain these vital ends it was said to be a wise provision of the gods that women should outnumber men by one in every seven.

Two or more wives were not only the prerogative of the chiefs, but their solemn duty. They realised too that physical fitness of mothers and offspring resulted from carefully timed new arrivals, leaving at least one mother to be the nurse while another farmed and cooked. One chief, a sincere convert to our Christian faith, shocked the missionary by attending church with two or three wives. When rebuked, he quoted whole chapters concerning Abraham and Solomon —“They were Christian gentlemen and rulers, and so am I.”