A MAORI RECEPTION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 689, 10 February 1881, Page 2

A MAORI RECEPTION.

The Murimntu correspondent of the "Wahgauui. Chronicle", supplies that journal with a lengthy account of'"the ; " goiiigs on" of the war party sent up by Kemp to survey certain boundaries, but which .intention has since boeii abandoned, owing to the resistance Bhown by the Taupo and Napier tribes. .After alluding to.the probable results of a dis,-, pute, the correspnndint says;'—The warriors who have lately arrived were received on Saturday last, with the usual ivelcmii: ing, feasting and speechifying. They took advantage of the very seemly occasion to indulge in a war-dance-a not very seemly speclaclo on the Sabbath day. The procession of mounted warriors, carrying a banneret in front of them, left Whakahi pah at 1 p.m., and crossed to the opposite side oi Tokiauru Creek, where a large assemblage of Natives awaited them at the hew shed erected to hold the impounded wool of Messrs Studholme, Morrin, and Co. When the procession reached a flax mound about 400 yards from the shed the warriors dismounted, and disrobed till they stood in a state of nature, with nothing but ahVleaf Blament about their loins. In this becoming costume—and, seriously speaking, it was adecided improvement on the habiliments of rags they had just disearded—they proceeded to the pah, dancing,, grinning, twisting, twining, and contorting their limbs and features into every grotesque and imaginable order and shape A similarly-clad body of warriors were awaiting them at the entrance of the pah. One of .these ran forward to meet them in a beeline, and extending his.tougue to its extremest limit, and rolling up his eyes till nothing but the white was visible was understood to convey thereby a challenge to "come on." A challenge they lost no time in accepting, for they came on at full split, and, on roaoMng the body of opposing braves, who received them in squatting order, they -danced round them, and mouthed at l.liem, and faced to them ina style and attitude that a monkey would have envied. They then, returned and went through the same extraordinary manoeuvres at a short distance, commanded by "Brave Murderer" on horseback, who could not be restrained, although in that elevated position, from mechanically going through the same performance So fascinating an-, influence, indeed, did this sort.of thing exert on the native mind that even the ladies joined in it. I noticed-one very .beautiful dusky dame in -company with Kemp's warriors thus affected ; -but although she went through the most graceful of manoeuvres she took very good care not to distort her'foaturej, hilt i'lha rather In exhibit to perfection the most beautiful and regular row of dentals I ever saw in a -human mouth. Similar antics were indulged in by the pa natives and then this most seemly exhibition of decorum on die Lord's Day was brought to a close l>y the warriors re-robing; but oh I. What a change was effected In' 'their war-paint they were a really noble looking body of young meu, wiih most intelligent and good looking countenances and .a splendid physique. But, .alas j When they went hack to the flat and ouce more out on their robes, I hey emerged therefrom a lot of ragamuffins, ' ' : ■