E—No. 7

LECTURES ON MAORI CUSTOMS. ariki. I have before said that an ariki of a tribe (being priest) is supreme ruler in times of war, when his orders are admitted by the people to carry an appearance of an order from the gods ; but in the attack on the stronghold of the Thames tribe ( Ngatipaoa) about the year 1822 by the whole of the Ngapuhi Iwi led by Hongi, there arose a dispute as to how the pa was to be attacked, which eventually caused a separation of the Ngapuhi ; four or five of the hapus retired, and would not join in the attack on this place, but joined after the battle, and assisted in all the further attacks made on the Waikato. I have said that the dictatorship of a tribe may be assumed by a minor Chief of a tribe, or even by a member of another tribe. Although the Natives allow a great influence, and even pay a great respect to the offspring of their aristocracy, yet if this power is unaccompanied by intellect and bravery, the ariki of a tribe or chief of a hapu may be supplanted by an inferior Chief; as in the case of the ariki of the Ngatiraukawa, who was succeeded by Te Rauparaha. Te Rauparaha was not a Chief of rank ; that is, he was the offspring of a junior branch of the ariki family of Tainui, and by intermarriage of his progenitors with minor Chiefs and women of other tribes, he held no influence by birth; but when the principal chief of the Ngatiraukawa (Hape ki Tuarangi) was on his death bed and the whole tribe were assembled, the old Chief (who had been a noted warrior in his day) asked if his successor could tread in his steps and lead his people on to victory, and so keep up the honor of the tribe. This question was put to all his sons, but no reply was given; when Te Rauparaha got up from the midst of the minor chiefs and people who were sitting at a distance from the sick chief and the chiefs of high rank, and said, "I am able to tread in your steps, and even do that which you could not do.'' As he was the only speaker in answer to the Hape's question, the whole tribe acknowledged him as their leader : hence his influence to his dying day. Te Paraha was a man of superior powers of mind as a native, and as a leader of a war party was not even surpassed by the noted Hongi; but let it not be supposed that by gaining a certain influence or mana by his superior powers of mind, he had the power to make anything tapu ; his mana only went so far as his protecting power and counsel were required ; the Ngatiraukawa ariki and the Ngatitoa ariki, still retained the power of making or taking the tapu off anything, as I will again instance in an araki of a hapu of Ngapuhi, whose name was Manu. He was ariki of the Ngatikaihoro, but being a thief he lost all influence over his people except that of tapu ; his nephew (his sister's son) took the leadership of the hapu, but it so occurred that a certain piece of land was required by the hapu on which to cultivate; a decision was given by the then leader; but he could not go beyond his wish, and it could not be occupied till it bad been made noa or the tapu taken off by an ariki; Manu being the ariki objected, but at the combined request of his hapu, he removed the tapu by incantations, and the land was occupied by the people. This example speaks for itself in a twofold way: not only can the people transfer their allegiance to a person not an ariki by birth, but they can compel by united request their own ariki to do that to which he is opposed. The word " chief," as understood by Europeans, leads to false conclusions in reference to the application of that name to a New Zealander, or (to put it in another way) Europeans expect more to be done by chiefs of Maori tribes than even these admit themselves to possess. I may confidently say there never was, or is now, a chief in New Zealand who can order any one in his tribe (slaves excepted). The members of a tribe do resist orders given by a chief with impunity. I may say, further, there is not any chief or ariki of a tribe, or even all the chiefs and arikis of any iwi together, who can collectively give a guarantee that they will make their "iwi," or any hapu in it, act up to any terms they (the chiefs) may agree to. Ido not wish to tamper with the rank or influence of a Maori chief, but let facts speak for themselves. When Heke had, for the first time, cut the flagstaff down at Kororareka, and troops (though a few) had been sent from Sydney, and when the Governor had gone to the North to within seven miles of Heke's home, the " arikis" of the Ngapuhi hapus laid a number of guns at the feet of His Excellency as tokens, and entered into a contract that Heke should not cause any more disturbance. Although these chiefs were the greatest men of Ngapuhi, Waka, Rewa, Tareha, and others, and Heke was only a minor chief, yet he in defiance of them all cut the flagstaff down again, and burnt the town of Kororareka. A Maori chief, when he promises anything in the name of his tribe, invariably implies the proviso that he promises for as many only of his tribe who will listen to him. And when he promises anything for his individual self, he has a proviso in his own mind (when he is reminded of his contract) which he makes known in this way, "O, my love to my relatives, who condemned me for my act, made me think as they do." And if reprimanded for not conveying the news of his change of mind at a sooner date, his answer is, "I thought it would be the same if you did not know of it." I said that a member of another tribe may assume the dictatorship of a " hapu" of an " iwi" not his own. As my time is limited one example must suffice. In the war of Hongi with the Rotorua he took many slaves, and at a recent time a young man named Pirihongo, (of no note even amongst his own people as a chief of birth) paid a visit to some of his relatives who were taken slaves by Hongi. Being of an intelligent mind he eventually became, and is now, the leader of one of the Ngapuhi" hapus" at the Waimate, to whom many of the arikis and chiefs of Ngapuhi apply when they want the advice and assistance of the hapu of which he is now the leader.