WHAKATUPURANGA.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 187, 22 July 1873, Page 2

WHAKATUPURANGA.

T am a thoroughbred Maori, as true and bona fide an Aborip'niil of these islands as ho who wrote the epistle signed "Purwkutu." I am proud of being a Maori, for unless it, be the Highlanders, or perhaps the Welsh, we are the oldest people on the earth ! I am proud of mj people, for \\6 are a mition of Uno-rangatiras, all noble, with the exception of tlitv»e who in our wars were mean enough to crave for their incq, and of course we bad to ipare them ; we then made them hewers of wood and drawer* of water, and they were distinguished by the name of "ralu." The Tuurereka was a noble ; he was a captive taken in war, and was saved, not by hia craving for bis lifbj but from the " inherent olemency" of our noble nature. If he were a very great rangatira we did not care to humiliate him by making him a gazing-stook to the tribe — we cooked and eat him, and his head wai made a " mokei " of for our children to pukana at — to grin at. yea, we are a people of tino-rangahras and can trace our pedigree back into the long byegone ages, tnd that man nmoiig us carries his head highest who has least or no taint in his lineage ; not taint of disease — we are all more or less scrofulous or leprous, either mat© 1 hone or ngerengere — but of slave or " rabi," that taint can never, never, never be effaced ; the taint is possessed of the power of reproduction jib strongly as your disease of small-pox, and to us it ia much more terrible* Thero are few, unfortunately, among the tribes who have not some of this taint. Wi Thompson's father was sold for. a tomahawk, which was bad enough, but he was only a tnurerelca, not like that rahi te Ngakau, or I to »hfc say his august majesty King Tawhaio, who, I regret to «ay, has a very strong mixture of the abomination. We a»>ht not , I knovr, to "spsak evil of dignities," but the pen v , the>" ready writer" no more can restrain itself than oan the viperous tongue of the slanderer. I have an unfortunate habit of digression which I sometimes in rain endeavour to curb, »nd it would seem as if I were astride of that hobby at present ; so to return. My object in penning these lines is to •how our relationship to the great English nation, and it it possibly my innate pride of my race that prompts this endeavour. As matters look at present with us, we seem many degrees inferior to the dominant race, and I wish to show my countrymen and my pale-faced ancestry that we are one, and therefore we need not feel aggrieved at what many of ua term a foreign power governing, where, in reality, it is only our rider brethren. I wish my peoplo to see that as the small Scottish nation was not conquered or ruled by its :*fe!ite-<t neighbour, tho King of Scotland having gone to rule : <_>w v b-l'i, so in like manner ha^e our fathers come to rule in w\i piiintry, and I trust will yet succeed to make, of appa- ; renth two, one happy people ; and I cannot accomplish this i(wk b f 'er than by showing that we have one common origin | — not by the hackneyed absurdity of tracing our linkage I from Adam, or even Noah. I leave that to the African, who therefore oounts evory one a "man and a brother," and to proceed in my own way, winch has, at any rate, the merit of follow ing no bvotf n track in tho discussion. lam not an ignoramus, although I urn a thoroughbred Maori. I have travelled, and am more enlightened, because more observant, than ritlier llonei or Te Hopihana. My eyes I know were given me to see, and my ears to hear, and in my ease they served their purpose. I was elated to think ray race could execute such marvels aa I fee at every turn of my travels, and especially to to observe that these were not exceeded by the intelligence of other great nations. I noticed on my nrrival in our mother country that as in the case with ourselves, most of the peoplo lived many families in the same house. I onoe belonged to the police in thin country 5 very many of our w orst characters, I regret to think, either belonged to that service, ns Kereopa and Te Kooti, or to the ministry , as many others nearly as bad, wbo shall be nameless I repeat I belonged to tho police in this country, and when I saw one upon my arrival in Liverpool, I immediately fraternijrd with him, and my advances were returned in the most cordial manner. I was his companion for three days and nights, and it was in our perigrinations over his beat that I saw what I affirm 5 indeed, in some of the places they were more crowded than in our whare puni. They were as filthy too, and having lately been used to tbe »ea air, I was glad to escape, and I thought how I should dislike that abomination of our country, tbe whare puni, with all its pestiferousness. This was one similitude observed by me ; another waa seen as I was passing through the Highlands— the prominent and high cheek-bone of (he elder people so much resembling the Maori in this respect, and the laughing, full faces and bright eyes of the young girls innde me for once home sick ; these with the umusements of the boys, so like to the days of my own youth, the flying of tlw kite (pakau), and the whipping of the top. How my yoiHig day* flashed upon me aa these scenes crowded upon my. astonished and gladdened sight. Anothor favourite amusement of these boys was that of my renownod ancestor, Tamati Kupua— the groat walker on stilts. These young lads were m one town racing up and down on stilts, which I immediately guessed was a recreation of great antiquity, as Tamati Kupua had used tho same, though with another object than simple amusement. Anothor pa»time indulged in by the youths of thisoountiy similar to the recreations of my boyhood wns the manly sport of wrestling, and they grappled much in the same \va\ as the Maori, though they are inferior to us afc * tl'i« game, as they are in moat games requiring ability and Btiength, with ihe exception of running aiid the very foolish game of boxing. Yet another similarity stiuek me aa Siirpiising. We Maoris are a musical people — we have many poets; and 1 found that these people wtre particuUily musical, ami like ourselves delighted in songs, especially of an amatory character. I was shewn some of their collections, uiitten, I think they said, by Ramsay, Burns, aud Tamahill, which were peculiarly so ; love was the theme of more than three-foutha of these collections, which is the same with most of our poetry. Fray do not think we are wanting in the poetic vein ; oar very thought* are beautiful with poeiic imagery, 4 and no speaker would be listened to whosa speech had not its appropriate number of waiatas, whose speech was not so redundant of metaphor that it required an expert for its elucidation. Apropos too of music The instrument they called the bagpipe was much appreciated there, — not a night pasted without its clangour pressing upon the throbbing ears, that is when accompanied with its organlike appendage the bellows ; but when the pipe alone was used, as in some of the refrains was occasionally the case, T could not help comparing its soft music to our own koauau ; nor am I alone in this idea. Once, while travelling with a Highlander far away, — In the depths of the forests primeval, On the shady slopes of the old Kuahine. A peaceable party of young men and women Were seated, resting themselves after Bays and nights -of sore travel ; and by the aide of a crystaline stream meandering, sat one of those youths with bis ravine flageolet, or, aa aforesaid, koauau, discoursing sweet music, I was struck by the appearance of mv companion who, with tears rolling down his oheekf, said that the sounds reminded him of his own land and poetry — And of days of other years When sad the voice of Cona in the gale Lamentingly the song of Selraa sang. While noticing literary similarities, the pepeba whaLatauki, or proverbs, must not be forgotten. Tbeie need not be enumerated, bnt tbe number of those having tbe same moral is reit lly surprising ; and also with the panga, or conundrum. The love of the Maori for the display of ingenuity and wit in this direction is great, almost surpassing — if that could be — the witticisms, quips, ' and pr inks of the great English nation ; and if our language 'vi»l its wiitten iiißtead of traditional lore, we should ddiil. tifss have hul our pun 'hinelln. Yes, we enjoy wit .1 n t/iiu^iv, and hewhocan-<>-nighthelp to beguile the tedious houi s of the whare with his fund of wit and anecdote is considered a head taller than his fellows, for with ua a* ■with you, te tangata wbai roro. the rr.an of brains, is ever elevated above the mere physical a*hlete The general who can take advantage of all ciicumsfcinres, as my relation To Ran par Iha did atWaiarstu, when the paiteh* broke line nml retreated, ia held in greater estimation than the athlete tangita, wbo can wrestle or box any man either Maori or pakeha in these islands. Generalities hare been dealt in on this subject, space not allowing me to trouble your goad nature by citing instances ; but an example of tho readiness of our people to pun may here be given. While on an expedition some five years ago with a friend, we found the day mo3t close and sultry. Towards evening, however, it rained, and the weather became pleasantly fool My companion remarked that it waa, "Ka nui te hauhau,"— it is pleasantly cool ; or the words would also imply there are many hatihnus. I replied "Ac ra na te nil, '—yes, in consequence of the rain, ua meaning rain. My frien 1 rejoiue«l, smiling, " Ao w nateua boke,"— yes, from te Ua, the prophet, the founder of the hauhau religion. It was not b.ul when henrd on the spur of the moment, but to be dissected and hashed up in this manner would spoil any pun, and I now regret having troubled you with it. But " -*hat is writ is writ." Our literary comparisons may end by adverting to words having a oimilar -»onnd and meaning in both languages. Of the many that might be instanced, two taken at random must suffice. One i* tari, to wait, synonymous witli your tarry. We have no y, and have to substitute the i, which has the same sound, and tho meanings aw identical. The othrr word 1* ac, which, if it has no other meaning, has all the signiHoance of an anirmntive, and is our word for aye, or yes. There can bo no doubl as to the origin of these words in wy mind, aud aftor tracing so many ruMMiiblnnres between your peoplo and the Maori, it is inconceivable how many sceptics are to be found in tlm inntter, who lmvo cynically called theso simply coincidenuoi. Strange freaks of nature they are if only jo, nnd stranger logician* are they who could argue in such wim as do these disbeliever*; but for them I do not. write. No ;if people will not credit a doctrine on a I lv.woiiable amount of evidence, it is hopelo^x trying to per«umle, Such minds cannot suivly tispcct to be onhglitoned, w hen they dtterminedly chooie durkticss. 13y tho way, the 111 1 »L word used it suggest it 0 <>f an objection to my theory, advanced by the* samo sceptic, iwwiely, that we are many shades darker than our " impu'ed " forefather* ; they hod [ even the bad taste to u*o this tdiectire. Is it iudeed to be

wondered at, when we haYo travelled orer two temperate and one torrid zone on our pilgrimage hither? What do* they say to the drvertity in color of the »ons of Israel— white an an !Engltslimtn in England, dark at a Moor m Africa ? or what think they of the tawnyness of thp Portugin ■ • on the coast of Mozambique, the south -eastern portion < f India, or the Island of Macos? If the iinp\igner of tho theory propunded had advanced ai an objection a wonderful disparity between as and tliem•elvps, I should not have been surprised. I«w tbst the Scotch, in particular, were the most tyrannical of parents,, and used their ohildren in a manner cruel in the extreme, so much bo, that I was tempted to enquire whether these were •tep-fatuers and mothers. Now, with us, our love for oatohildren is »o great that we never think of correcting them, but allow them, as lovo dictates, tho most unbounded licence,, so that even when they grow to man* and woman's estate they will turn upon their father a>id mother and beattbem most unmercifully, sometimes kicking them — especially the ir mothers — until they cannot move. Maori children do not fear their parents ; those whom they stand m dread of bemg their elder brothers and sisters, who are possibly, on • th lit account, stronger than they. This uas the greatest dissimilarity discernable between as, and I must admit I wasqutte shocked at the austerity of this astute people toward* their offspring, and in rariably said I was fortunate in being i bom a Maori. But, again, lam not blessed with children"! I I conclude as I began, lam a thoroughbred Maori, and. delight in discoursing on my stainles? pedigree. I love my prople, albeit they hare the r dark side of the picture, and their idyosyncracies may be descanted upen in a future lucubration. Yes, I love my people, but those having * stain of rahi I will none of. — I am, &.C., Katj Mahok.