G.—3

56

interesting to many to know that EeAvi is regarded as being Avell acquainted with Maori traditions and superstitions, and with all the details of old worship of the Natives. His knowledge, could it be recorded and translated, would no doubt be valuable in a literary and scientific point of view. Mr. C. O. Davis states that once when travelling with Eewi in Waikato that chief mentioned that the Maoris in old times had a supreme God whom they named Jo. Attention was attracted by this word, which resembles one of the Hebrew names of Jehovah, but Eewi was not disposed to be communicative, and said there was a tohunga, or priest, iv an adjoining settlement who could ansAver much more satisfactorily than he could. Eewi has, I believe, but ono child, a little girl of six or seven years of age, whom he loves very dearly, and whom he carried in his arms for a considerable part of the way on the journey from Mokau to Waitara. The Maori King. —lt is strange to me to find, even at Taranaki, the Maori King Tawhiao is looked to with awe and reverence as above all others. I have very great difficulty in arriving at the reasons why this should be. I have seen both Tawhiao and Eewi several times, and have listened to what they have said both in public and in private, and I have no hesitation in saying that Eewi is by far the more intellectual man of the two. There are few ties of relationship between Tawhiao and his connections and people of Taranaki. In fact, Tawhiao's father was the great devastator of Taranaki; and yet I believe if Tawhiao had come to Waitara, Titokowaru, Te Whiti, Kohu, and the other well-known men who kept away Avould have attended. Te AVhiti has said that he would attend a meeting when Tawhiao and the Governor met at the Aceldema, or the field of blood (meaning Waitara). The Maoris have no hereditary affection for a monarch. They knew nothing in old times of any authority paramount to that of the chief of a tribe, who had a mana over the land as trustee, and who was connected with most of them by blood. The Maori Kingship is a thing of yesterday, and yet the Maoris appear to cling to TaAvhiao with something like the affection lavished by the Highland clans on the Prince of the Houso of Stuart. There is, indeed, one reason which must not be forgotten, in default of a hereditary loyalty to a house which had been for centuries supreme to all others in elevation and grandeur of its members. The Maoris hit upon tho notion of surrounding TaAvhiao Avith all the sanctions of religion, and placing him in the position of a god. It is wrong to say "hit upon the notion." To make Tawhiao the centre of a religious system was pressed upon the Maoris as a necessity, as being the only means of uniting in them the sympathies and aspirations of the people. Besides, the Maori mind is susceptible, to an extent of which we can have no conception, of impression from the supernatural. Eewi boasts that they adopted Christianity in three years from the appearance of missionaries, but they dropped it all at once, and Aye doubt, notwithstanding Eewi's desire to lift the Christian faith up again, whether they will not for years to come repeat the Hauhau prayers. It must be remembered, however, that Hauhauism has gone through several stages, all differing much from each other, since the war broke out. Praying several times a day for a man must have a strong effect upon the minds of all men, and must especially affect the Maoris. The prayers several times a day for Tawhiao I believe to have been the chief means of maintaining his power, and that now it gives him something more than a mortal claim on the Maoris. The religious function is TaAvhiao's strength. In fact, William Thompson, the most thoughtful of king-makers, saAV the character that the Maori monarch must assume. It will be remembered that Thompson used to write the Avord " ingiki," and, as the Maoris were quite familiar Avith the word "king," the spelling was considered somewhat remarkable. It was explained to me by an intimate acquaintance of William Thompson. That chief had been reading Eobertson's " History of America," and determined that the man who should be intrusted with the guardianship of the rights of the Maori people and who should attract to himself their reverence and religious awe should have functions like those of the Incas of Peru, who was the head of the priesthood, and presided at the great religious festivals. " Ingiki" was not the word " king " but " Inca," amongst the Kingites. However, the word " king "is seldom heard, the old family name of Tawhiao, or the new one of Takaraho, being always used. Maori Superstitions. —lt is somewhat remarkable that all Maori superstitions should have emanated from Taranaki; thence came Hauhau in all its modifications. I remember several years ago interviewing Te Ua Horopapera, the originator of Hauhauism. After a great deal of difficulty I got him to tell me how he had been taught the new religion. As a matter of course, it Avas a direct communication from the Most High, the Angel Gabriel having appeared to him while he was lying in a state of trance. I could not manage to get Te Ua to proceed beyond a certain point in his narration; but, from statements made to others, it appears that the Angel Gabriel commanded Te Ua to get the head of Captain Lloyd, Avho had been killed at the skirmish at Te Ahauhu, Taranaki, and that the head should be the medium of communication between man and Jehovah. The first communications were : " The Angel Gabriel and his legions Avill protect them from their enemies ; the A 7irgin Mary will constantly be present with you. The religion of England, as taught by the Scriptures, is false. The Scriptures must all be burned. All days are alike sacred, and no notice must be taken of the Christian's Sabbath. Men aud Avomen must live together promiscuously, so that their children may be as the sand of the sea-shore for multitude. Legions of angels await the bidding of the priests to aid the Maoris in exterminating the Europeans." The Maoris have found, however, that the free-love tenet did not succeed, and have abandoned it. What can it be that makes Taranaki so prolific of gloomy religious ideas ? Is it the influence of its dark and sullen forests, and of its stupendous and solitary mountain, so often veiled in clouds? In September, 1874, Tawhiao visited the Patea District, when Te Ua, the prophet, in honor of the King, caused a number of chiefs to be knighted, and others to be made Earls or Dukes. Mr. John AVhite, in a communication to the Government, stated that on the arrival of Tawhiao the Taranakis expressed their joy by calling him their life, light, and power, asking him to tell them all his sorrow. Eewi questioned Te Ua as follows :" Is this God a true God ? Can he save? Is his bodily presence ever seen ? " To these questions Te Ua answered in the affirmative. I give a part of a lament for King Tawhiao Avhich was sung on that occasion : 1. Tawhiao, you are my first-born, and the richness of my youth, and the commencement of my breath, and the greatness of glory, and the greatness of power. 2. O Tawhiao, you are the praise of your elder brothers and the praise of your younger brothers. Thy hand will hold firmly the neck of thy enemies, and to you will