OBITUARY NOTICE OF EMA KAPU TE TIPITIPI.

Waka Maori, Volume 10, Issue 25, 15 December 1874, Page 312

OBITUARY NOTICE OF EMA KAPU TE TIPITIPI.

(Communicated by a "Disconsolate One." Ema Kapu Te Tipitipi died at Ohiwa, on the 28th of November last, She was an Arawa chieftainess of high rank. She was a daughter of Hoani Ngamu Takurua, one of the principal chiefs of the Arawa; she was exceedingly popular, and was loved and respected by all the tribe. She was married at te Ngaae, Rotorua, on the 4th of January, 1864, in the church which her parents attended. She thought no other church so fitting a place for her to take the marriage oath as the place of worship which her parents attended. During the many years of her married life, no act of hers ever disturbed the happy relations subsisting between herself and her husband. She.was meekness kindness, and love, personified. Ema indeed truly

fulfilled the Scriptural command— 1 " Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands, as it is fit in the t" • j 01^ e would ever speak an unkind or offensive word to her, and her words to all were affectionate and gentle, soft and loving. She came to Wellington from the East Coast last winter. It was a very inclement season, and the cold was unusually severe. Prom being so long on the way she caught a cold, which became worse after her arrival in Wellington. Her illness being serious, she became desirous of seeing Bishop Hadneld, the Father of the Church in Wellington, that he might pray for her; for she remembered the words of the Apostle—" Is any among you afflicted, let him pray. Is any sick among you? let him call ior the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." The Bishop visited her continually; and she, experiencing great comfort from his prayers and ministrations, exclaimed, —"I have great light, and my heart rejoices in your prayers and religious services." The Bishop said, "Yes, religion is indeed a consolation and a comfort for the sick;" to which she answered, "Yes, religion is very good—it is very good." When the Bishop was absent, she herself engaged in prayer, with her husband; for she was very earnest in her devotions, that she might have light in her heart. During her illness Mr. T. W. Lewis and Mr. IIHalse frequently called to see her, and impart religious consolation to her. The daughters of the latter gentleman also took her delicacies to eat, and flowers from their gardens—such things as interest and please sick persons. Then she said, "How true it is that Christian people, members of the church have love." ' Mr. Bishop and his wife, the persons in charge of the house where she lay, attended to her wants, and moved her when required; and they would not allow any noise in the house, lest she might be disturbed. They watched her carefully, and if she expressed a wish for anything, they immediately procured it, if possible. Seeing this, she said,—" Here is proof of great love. They are even as my own parents." On Saturday, the 25th of October, she and her husband left Port Nicholson in the "Luna," to return to the East Coast. Not long after their arrival she said to her hcsband, —" Now that I have arrived at my own home, and am with our own parents, and our own people, return you to your Government duties. Let not my sickness detain you here, lest those in authority over you be displeased. Return now at once." All this is worthy of the highest admiration* Although she was borne down beneath the weight of her affliction and trouble, she nevertheless spoke selfsacrificing words of thoughtfulness for her husband's interests. And why was this ? It was because the love of this woman for her husband was great. It was not that she desired his absence, she would rather he should remain and witness her departure (death) ; but she suppressed the desire of her heart and calmly told her husband to go. On Saturday the husband arrived in Wellington, and on the same day she slept (died) at Ohiwa, so that their marriage vow " until death do us separate," was not altogether fulfilled—they were separated before death. She died, grieving that she could not look upon her husband's face before her departure; and he remained, grieving that he had not looked upon the of his beloved when she was dying. The whole tribe, too, mourned her loss and his absence. Now, the manner in which this woman conducted

herself has been described; her gentleness, her kindness, her freedom from guile, her affectionate nature, her mildness of speech, her religious devotion, and her exceeding love to her husband. Can we doubt whither she has gone P Te women, let Kapu's perfect example of virtue be followed by you in the world. LAMENT FOE. KAPU. (Translation lyricised by George Wilson.) When tlie north -winds blow I'm lonely, And a "weary melancholy Grows upon me, for the winds come Prom her own, her much-loved dwelling. In the glimmering twilight often Wander I as if demented ; And I ask, oh! where is Ema ? My bird formed so delicately. Where is she, when maids and matrons Meet together—meet without her! She who erst gave pride and beauty To the assemblies of our women. O'er the hills, whose rude, rough dangers Were to her as merely nothing, Came she in cold wildering weather To be with me ; —all unworthy I was of so much devotion. Ah! she fell a victim, early To the hardships of that journey; Then first she saw the wide-spread waters Of far-famed Whanganui-a-Tara* In her illness she was longing To return to home and kindred ; Hence, by weird power of Tipuaf borne, She mournfully returned home, So that o'er her last sad sighings Tears of sorrow might be flowing. Why should Huritini's ngawhas J Rise in towering pride exultant ? Sink, proud xigawha, sink in silence, Since your mistress is gone for aye. Sleep no longer, sleep not, Ema, Rise and tell me who are with you, What your state is, if permitted; Tell, oh! tell me why you died. If allowed again to visit Earthly scenes, she'd likely tell me That she stood where Matai's bluff gives Foothold to the winging spirit Of her ancestors, ere leaving Earth for realms of the Hereafter. Where Ohiwa's inland waters Meet the ocean, there she died— Dive through Tuara-o-Kanawa,H Dive, my Ema, and appearing On Paepaeaotea's§ headlands, Turn toward me, —the north wind blowing Will convey your lamentations To my listening ear —oh ! wait there, Wait until in death I join you.

* Whanganui-a- Tar a—Port Nicholson. t Steamship " Luna." J NgawTia—Boiling spring. H Tuara-o-Kana/wa—ls a name given, to the seas which break on the shore where the Ohiwa River flows into the ocean. The spirit, after death, is supposed by the Natives to plunge through these waves down to JSaumu—the gate of Hades. § Paepaeaotea—A small island off Whakaari.—lE&. Note. —This lament contains an affecting story of a fond husband and an-affectionate wife, simple and beautiful in the original to a very high degree, exhibiting trains of thinking entirely foreign and unknown to Europeans, and for which too many of the latter are very tardy to give credence to the fact that their brown brothers have any of the finer traits of humanity at all in their nature. —Q-eo. "Wilson.