Nation Making:

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 25, 21 June 1890, Page 2

Nation Making:

A STORY OF NEW ZEALAND SAVAGEISM AND CIVILIZATION.

By

J. C. FIRTH.

AUTHOR OF -LUCK- AND “OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.’

Chapter VII. MAORI CVST o M S. The tapu—A ’•arrival employed by the chiefs and tohungas— Ises of tapu—A Maori girl a wahine noa —A wife sacred—A parallel and a ••ontrast — The cook and the chiefs head—A man not eaten—A basaltic pillar goes on a journey- And stops on the plain—a tapu stone— I*eath in a touch-A test case outride of the law courts—Not dead in a year and a day- A tin of blacking—A tapu tree The greenstone tradition —Maori road makers—A chief* backbone—The tradition true—The greenstone in the heart of the tree.

E Maoris hail many curious customs, one of which, the tapu made sacred , I propose to notice more fully in this chapter. The custom of the tapu is doubtless a survival of some ancient time and of some far-off land. The chiefs employed it to increase their mono i influence -. But the power of the tapu rested mainly with the tohanga* • priests). It was an unwritten law which enabled them to govern the rude communities over which they ruled. A chiefs person was sacred, his head more especially. A river during the season w hen tish could not be properly taken was effectually ' preserved ' by the tapu. A road when needed was closeil in like manner. Cultivations were effectually pro-tei.-teo by it from thieving or trespass. Cleanliness and health were promoted by its use. The dead and their graves were strictly tapu. A person touching a dead body became tapu. and w'as unable to feed himself or to touch any article until the tapu was removed by the chief or priest. A drop of a chiefs blood made the canoe or house where it fell tapu. Even a chiefs garment was sacred, and his mat thrown over a man about to be slain saved his life. Strangely enough a woman, as long as she was single, was a trahine aoa, a common woman, without being guilty of immorality, but directly she was formally given to one man she became tapu to him. and then, in the ease of unfaithfulness, heavy penalties were exacted. Had girls before marriage been” made sacred, the Maoris would doubtless have increase'l in numbers much more rapidly. In this the Maoris offer a contrast and a parallel with at least one highly civilised European nation, which keeps its young unmarried women sacred but allows the wives a liberty of which Maori married women are rigidly deprived. A sick person often became tapu, being then placed and left alone in a rude hut, with a little food and water, and left to die. In like manner a very old man or woman became tapu, and were frequently left to die in solitude and misery. . An ariki or great chief s tapu was more especially sacred, an-i was used when peace was made, after bloody wars about tribal boundaries, and on other important occasions. As an instance of the sacredness of a chiefs head, and of the influence of Christian teachino, I may narrate a circumstance told me by the late Major Drummond Hay. Returning from one of his expeditions, and in his cap-acity as Native Commissioner. the major, whilst making his boat snug in a little bay at the base of a cliff on which his house stood, ha<l -ent on" one of his boat's crew, w ho actol as cook, to prepare the evening meal. When everything had been made secure the major leisurely climbed the cliff, and passing in front of the house, he saw through the open window, the ignorant cook in the act of wiping his greasy hand* on the head of a Maori squatting by the fireside. Such a rude act done ev en to a 'lave would have been a great indignity, but when the major the next instant recog-nise-1 in the Jlaori n<> other than Te Moamuiui i the Great Sea . a chief of the highest rank and of Herculean strength, he hesitated entering, being ashamed that one of his -ervar.ts should have offered so rude and so dangerous an insult to the chief, knowing well the penalty the wretched cook had incurred. • H'frci' ' Come in, Hay'. The major at onee entered the house. •Did you see what vour taartkanka <slave) has-done gravely inquired the chief. • I saw it,' replied the major, ‘ and I am very angry with my 'ervant for doing so rude a thing? ’■ It i- w ell for him? *aid the great chief with quiet dignity, • that he had not -lone 'uch a thing to my father's head, or there would have l>een a man eaten here to-night? • Indeed there would? replied Hay. not knowing what more to say. • Friend, said this Maori nation-maker, ‘do not let your anger bum. Your cookee is only a txtua -mean person , and know* not hi* folly. lam a Christian, and know more than my father. Enough? Many vears ago I had an opportunity of witnessing the singular power which the custom of the tapu still exercised over the Maoris. I was travelling through the interior of New Zealand, accompanied by two colonists and some Maoris, when a remarkable conical mass of nock attracted my attention. Four liasaltic pillars rise al-out eight feet above the peak, one of which appeared to have l-een broken off near its base.

A-king what had become of the missing pillar, the Maoris promptly ~aid that a long time ago the stone had broken itself off in the night, and went on a journey, till it was overtaken by daylight in the morning, when it stopped and remained .landing on the plain, where it remained till this dav. We laughed at the comical tradition and continued our journey, thinking no more of the matter. Late that afternoon one of the Maoris said : • There is the kohatn (stone).’ Riding to it, I found a stone about four feet high and about twelve inches square standing upright. The Maoris said the stone was tapu. and that anyone touching it would instantly fall dead. I said : •You Maoris have many silly superstitions: I will put this one to the proof.’ Dismounting I asked one of my white companions to lay hold of the stone, in order to see if we could move it. At this proposal, the Maoris were tilled with tenor, and implore.! us to leave it alone, if we valued our lives. Laying hold of the stone, with two or three vigorous wrenches we moved it considerably out of the perpendicular. Trembling with real alarm, the Maoris, their faces blanched with terror, again begged us not to touch it further, regarding us with great fear. •Now.’ said I, ‘what are your superstitions worth? Yor. -ee we are in no way the worse for having moved the stone, tapu though it was f • A”« tika ’ I • that is right’), replied the chief : * you are white men. If you had been Maoris you would now have !>een stretched on the plain, dead. But being pakehas you will certainly be dead before a year begone.’ • Yery well,’ I said, • I will try your tapu fairly. If I am dead within the year your tapu will be strong and your superstition true. If I do not die. then this tapu. like many other Maori beliefs, ought to be abandoned as false and of no value ;’ and taking out my note-book. I wrote in it an account of rhe occurrence and the prediction, adding the date. < ictober 24th, and after reading the entry to them we resumed our journey. I was the mote astonished at the strength of the superstition in these Maoris as they were extremely intelligent, had been taught by the missionaries, speaking English fairly well, and were above the average Maori in many respects. In a few days I left their village, with many regrets on their part that I had touched the tapu stone. During our visit we had many ‘ talks ’ about the Maori customs and the war then just ended for a time. At our departure the Chief Rutini presented me with a taiaha battle axe . I asked what he would like me to give him in return. Greatly to my surprise he said : • Send me a tin of blacking. ’ I was amused at such a request until I remembered that Rutini was a Maori dandy, and the best-dressed man of the party. Laughingly promising him the ‘ blacking,’ we made the usual adieus and departed. •In the 25th of C>ctober in the following year it so happened that I visited a frontier town where a Land Court was being held, attended as usual by crowds of Maoris from the villages in the interior. As I fancied my friend Rutini might be amongst them, on my arrival I purchased a tin of blacking. Curiously enough I had not been an hour in the town when I met Rutini and his friends, who had witnessed the ‘ stone ' adventure of the year before. They regarded me intently, and after the usual salutations, I said : ‘ Do you remember the stone on the plain and my moving • We remember it well.’ thev gravely replied. Taking <>ut my note-book. I read the account of the -tone moving and the prediction of a year ago. ‘Now,’ said I. ’the day on'which we moved the tapu stone was the 24th of Octolier. a year and a day ago. To-day is ik-tober 25th. and I am not dead.’ Thev were greatly surprised, but as usual with Maoris when Leaten. answered nothing. Turning to Rutini I -aid : ‘ Here is the blacking you asked for,’ and handed the tin to him. With the keen love of a joke natural in a Maori, the whole party roare>i with laughter, amidst which the failure •>f the prediction was forgotten. The strange tradition of the sacred stone had, I think, arisen probably from the stone having been in the long ago carried from the conical hill, and used as a division stone to mark a boundary between tribal lands, and made tapu to ensure its non-removal. A singular instance of the operation and influence of the tapu occurred some years ago. which is the more interesting as it shows that Maori traditions may sometimes be a more truthful record of past events than is generally supposed. Desirous of making a dray road over a mountain range in a purely Maori district, the New Zealand Government engaged a J>arty of Maoris to make it. under the control of a colonial engineer well acquainted with the Maori language and customs. The work proceeded, with the delays usual with Maori workmen, until the engineer desired to avoid a very sharp curve by cutting through the spur of the hill. The Maoris at once objected to the straight road, as it would break a great tapu, and bring a curse np«>n them. They said that many generations ago the ariki of that part’ of the country "hail ended a bloody struggle between three tribes about land boundaries by striking his mere powtamn (greenstone weapon into a tree, which he said was his ‘backbone,’ in this way making the tree very sacred or tapu, and declaring that tree to be the beginning

point of the lands of the three tribes. They said the great tree on the hill contained the greenstone, and they would not allow it to be cut down. The engineer examined the tree, which was very large, and grew right in the line of the cutting he desired to make. After a careful scrutiny be could find no trace of a greenstone. the bark of the tree presenting everywhere the usual appearance. He laughed at the tradition as a silly Maori conceit, and insisted on making the cutting through the hill. The more he wished to cut down the sacred tree the more the Maoris refuse*! to allow it. Weary of Torero (talk*, he made the awkward curve round the point of the hill, laughing at the folly of the Maoris, which would hurt them most, as they would’ be the chief users of the road. Annoyed at his taunts, and as usual, when the engineer no longer wanted the straight road, they teased to oppose it, and finally begged him to allow them to make the road straight. He consented, and with many ceremonies they broke the tapu and cut down the tree. It was then split up, and. within a few inches of the centre of the huge tree, the greenstone weapon was found embedded in the tree, as the chief had place*! it centuries ago. Chapter VIIT. THE TOHU N G A. Druids and tohungas ipriests*—Mysterious powers—A terrible tyranny—The last of the tohungas—lncantations—The keepers of traditions — The hunchback — Story of a tohunga — A tribal feud—Migration of the tribe—A native fortress—The night of the atua—A midnight storm—The face of a demon— The gate of the spirit world—The sighing of the sea—A voice from the dead—The father of the tribe—The spirit speaks— * Be warriors again '—The spell broken—Sunrise on a dead face— The shadows of the demons—A weary old man—The master of the demons—The word of the ariki—The white bones of the -lain—Vengeance—The warriors return no more—The young conquerors—The sweet voice of the maidens—The fathers of the new tribe—The ventriloquist. The tohunga amongst the Maoris appears to have held a position and wielded an influence akin to that of the Druids amongst our Celtic ancestors. The two mysterious powers of rendering any person or thing tapu, and of smiting any person with death by the umikntu (bewitching* made the despotism of the tohungas a tyranny of the worst kind. The power of excommunication wielded by the ecclesiastics ot the Middle Ages in the Western nations, confined chiefly to refusing the rites of baptism, marriage and burial to a nation or individual, was as nothing to the mystic power of the tapu in the hands of the tohungas. From the birth of the infant to the death of the old man the dark shadow of the tohunga s power closely followed the imaginative and superstitious Maori. That he did not wither into an abject slave under such an influence says much for the native manliness of his character. V\ hen the missionaries preached the simple truths of the Gospel to the Maoris they opened the dark dungeon of heathenism, and the Maoris stepped joyfully from the prison-house into the sunlight of Christian freedom. Release from the heavy bondage of the tohungas, I think, largely accounts for the wonderful success of the missionaries in New Zealand. Nevertheless, the Maori, like the rest of human kind, i«eing very much a creature of habit, remained long after he became a Christian to no small extent under the influence of the old customs of tapu and makutu. As long as a tohunga lived, though much of his influence had departed, he never cease*i to be an object of dread to his tribe. One of the most famous of the tohungas was overwhelmed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Tarawera in June, 1886. This priest, reckoned to be over one hundred years old. some days alter the eruption was dug out of a partially-buried house. Not one of his tribe would touch him or come near him. or even look at him, so great was their superstitious dread of him. He was carried to the hospital, where, after lingering a few days, he died, and the last of the tohungas departed to the spirit-land.* The tohunga was the sole medium of communication with the gods. By his incantations he claimed to control the spirits of the air. earth, and water, and professed to hold con verse with the inhabitants of the spirit-world. He was consulted on many of the small affairs of life. No new trfurt*g<i (cultivation* would be commenced, no fishing party would cast a hook until the prayers to the gods had been offered bv the tohunga. or until by his incantations he had restrained the powers of the demons. No warriors ever trod the war-path until the tohunga had offered sacrifices to Tu, the god of war. As already stated, in the tapu the tohungas held a power which bound the Maoris in a bondage which nothing but ancient and long-continued usage could have rendered bearable. Associated with the ariki or great chief of the tribe (who was also occasionally a tohunga) were the eldest son of the chief and a hunchback tone or more of whom was to be found in every Maori tribe* as keepers of the tribal history, but the tohunga was the chief depositary of the traditions, genealogies, and folk lores of the tribe. The object of asMjciating the hunchback with the more official keepers of the

A portrait of this famous tohunga appears on another page.

record- arose. I think, from the circumstance that in those warlike times no man s or woman’s life was safe : the chief especially was liable to fall in battle. In a massacre the hnnehback, being under the special protection of the god.-, was spared, and so the traditions with more certaintypanne,'! on unbroken from eneration to generation. 1 Bv these means Maori traditions have been handed down from times very remote with what, in some cases at least, we are justified in regarding as singular accuracy. as may be seen in the greenstone tradition narrated in the preceding chapter. _ >1 v ancient friend Hohua. whose recollections of men and events of the long ago was very dear, had many grim stories to tell I may narrate one of a tohunga, as it illustrates the unbounded influence the priests exerted over the Maori people in the olden times. . Squatting at the door ot his house in the quiet beauty of a summer 'evening, with his face towards the setting sun. the ancient patriarch. in a thin but firm voice, began his ” -yvh e n I was a youth there had been a long and bloody war between two tribes whom I shall speak of as the Ngatikohatus and the Ngatipungas. ... ‘ The Ngatipunga- had lost many warriors in the long blood feuds. Sometimes they won a bloody victory, but the Xcatikohatns were too strong. The cultivations of the N<ratipungas were destroyed, and many of their villages were deserted. The songs of maidens and the shouts of warriors were heard no more in them. ■ Xfter many reverses they were at last driven trom all their villages on the plain. 'Their tohunga a year before, after manv incantations, had told them that Tu. the warred was angry, that their safety lay in making their cultivations around the ancient fortress of the tnbe in the recesses of the forest of the mountains, and when these were ready for the harvest for the remnants of the tribe to retreat thither. • They hearkened to his word, and when the hrst trust laywhite on the plain they abandoned their ruined homes and went to dwell in the old pa. in which ages before their ancestors had lived in quietness. • The pa was strong. It was perched, like the nest ot a bird, on the top of a cliff. The walls of the rock were washed on all sides but one by a broad deep stream. The open side looked towards the waeranga clearing in the forest made by their ancestors long ago. That land was good. Taro anil kumaras grew in abundance. _ Then they- had no pigs nor potatoes, for none of those which <_ aptain Cook had •riven to the Maori tribes had yet been put in the ovens. But in that land the fern root grew strong, and that was their chief food. The river of the forest was full of eels. They fixed across the river posts of totara for the /xituuns (eel weirs), in which, after the tohunga had made the incantations. they caught eels in great plenty. , ■ The forest, so long silent, was full or pigeons and ia/.us- < parrots •, which fell an easy prey into the cunning snares set for them, for the ispells> of that tohunga were strong. ‘ Then the Ngatipunga made a taiapa a palisaue-otstrong posts with the races of their ancestors carved upon them. In front of this, after many days’ toil, they dug with wooden hoes ditches across the narrow neck, and piled up the earth mingled with fernstalks into high banks behind the ditches. ■So the pa was made strong, and the Ngatipungas slept quietly and dwelt there in peace, for they knew they were safe from the attacks of their foes, the Ngatikohatus. At this point the old man’s voice faltered, and for a few moments his eyes, with a far-off look in them, rested op the crimson glory of the sunset. Then he turned his wistful eyes to me. and recollecting himself, as it were, he resumed his story. ‘ It is long ago.’ said he. ‘ but I seem to be young again, and I feel as if I were in the pa of the Ngatipungas again. The pa was strong, and the taro and the kumaras had been put in the runs (pits' a second time, and the pigeons in their melted fat fillet! many gourds. • Then the rohnnoa made great incantations. After many days, when the night of the «f«« 'godt was come, the full moon shone bright in the heavens, and the priest gathered the chiefs and all the warriors and women into the ancient runanga-house. which had been lined with reeds, and the carved ancestors of the tribe had been painted red as of old, for they were very tapu. • The tohunga made many incantations, and the people were in great fear. Taen black clouds covered the sky. and the bright shining of the moon was gone. The incantations of the tohunga were strong, and the xizrt lightning gleamed in the sky. the runanga-house was filled with its brightness, and the loud thunder-roar- became louder and louder because of the strength of the spells of the priest. ■ Then the Ngatipungas were sore afraid. But the tohunga made his incantations more powerful until great trees were struck down in the forest by the fiery storm. The darkness in out meeting-house was chase! away bygleams of the lightning, which dashed through our house ike the waves of the sea on the shore. ■ The night was long, and the people were weary and afraid. But at last the priest, by his strong karakias. made the storm end. and there was a great calm. ■ Then the tohunga rose up, and his face was more hideous than before. His tongue hung from his mouth, his eyes were red and swollen, and his face was as the face of a demon. His body moved from side to side, and he uttered unknown words which none of the tribe could understand. ‘ The faces of the warriors were fixed upon him. but the women covered their heads, for the priest stood stiff and still as though he were a stone. A bloody foam covered his mouth and ran down his sacred garment. ‘ Then a strange sound, as of the sighing of the ocean beach when the spirit- are travelling to the reinffa ithe gate of the spirit-world >, swept through the darkness of the runanga-house, and the women and the warriors were silent with terror, for all felt that the dead was there. ■ The sighing of the sea ended. We waited in fear for it to return, but it came no more. ’ Then in the silence a scratching of the roof beam of the runanga-house was heard. All heard it and trembled. ‘“lt is a voice from the spirit-land,"said the hollow voice of the tohunga. “ Hearken ‘ In the deep silenee we heard the voice. ‘ We listened and looked, and one of the carved ones, the most ancient ancestor of them all, who was the far-off father of the tribe—Te Punga himself—spake these words : ‘ “ Tu, the war god, has been angry with my children.

Their bones whiten the heaps at the gates of the fortresses of the Ngatikohatus." ’ _‘ At these words the tohunga. whose face had been hidden by the sacred mat. let fall his garment.-, and said : • “ What does my father say to his children t" • The bones of the priest rattled in his skin, and he covered them with his mat. but his face was turned again towards the carved face of Te Punga. • Every man was as a stone. None moved, nor breathed, for all were tilled with a grievous fear. < >ur knees shook together, a great trembling seized every warrior, and all covered their heads like women and waited for the wools of the spirit of Te Punga. • Then the carved lips of the father of the tribe -eemed to move in the dim light from the oil of the birds, and he spake - ‘ “ The Ngatikohatus dwell in my ancient home. They fear nothing. They are as women amidst the v aerengaLet my sons be warriors again. It is ended.” ‘ A great silence filled the house of the runanga. • The tohunga renewed his incantations, and muttered strange things in words unknown. ‘ The spell was broken. We breathe.! again : but the tohunga lay stretched on the ground as one dead. ‘ • >ur life returned to us again, for the darkness had ended, and the light of the morning shone through the crevices of the runanga-house. ‘ But none moved. We were afraid. ‘ When the first rising of the ra (sun> over the ' mountain, came into the dark house it fell upon the‘lead face of the tohunga. and he moved and slowly a waked out of a sleep which we thought was the sleep of the dead. • He seemed to know nothing, and his red eyes had no light in them. Slowly the breath came into his body, which had been dead, for few enter the cave of Te Reingato speak with the dead who ever return to the sunlight again. Because the shadows of the demons lay upon them they often sleep and awake no more. But the incantations of the priest were very strong, for he was a great priest s and the master of the demons, and he lived.' I sprang to my feet. The ohl patriarch had fainted and fallen back against the dead tree. I moistened his lips with water, and sprinkled a few drops on his face. In a little time he opener! his eyes, and the light returned to his worn features, but he was'very weary, and I asked him to finish his story on the morrow. In a few days Hohua recovered his strength. He was a wonderful old man. His recollection of recent circumstances was uncertain and feeble, but his memory for the events of three quarters of a century ago was remarkably clear and strong. With some little difficulty I brought him hack t<> the ‘ master of the demons ’ in the runanga-house. ‘ Yes.’he began, 'that tohunga was strong, and the demons were the slaves of his incantations. ‘ The warriors slept in the runanga-house, for they were weary. When the women had made ready the food they awoke them. ‘ M hen the warriors had eaten they assembled in the marze (the open space , and the women ate their food alone. ‘ Then the ariki spake these words : “ Warriors of Ngatipunga, yesterday we were women, to-day we are men. Let us obey the voice of the dead an‘l bring hither the whitened bones of our kinsmen that moan to us’ from the pas of the Ngatikohatus. They were slain in the battle. Their flesh was eaten by our foes. Their bones bleach in the sun. Let us paint them red, that they may be tapu. Listen to their voices, which float at sunset on the wind from the south. They cry for vengeance. Let us wash our feet in the blood of the Ngatikohatus.’’ ‘ After many chiefs had spoken we heard the (wailings) of the women for their dead. The won! of all was “ vengeance. ” ‘ The tohunga made many incantations, and offered sacrifices to the war-god. At the next full moon—the night of the god—the warriors trod the warpath, and went to attack our enemies, the Ngatikohatus, and bring back the bones of our kinsmen. ‘ I was but a boy and remained in our pa with the women and children. ‘ But the warriors of the Ngatipunga returned no more. Their bones made bigger the heaps at the gates of the pa of their foes. ‘ After many days the young warriors of Ngatikohatu came to our village, and found only desolate women there, for the tohunga had gone to search for our warriors ; but we saw him no more. • The young conquerors dwelt in the pa of Ngatipunga. for they were bewitched by the sweet voices and soft glances of our maidens, and they remained, for they were the onlv men left for our women to nourish and live with. So these young men became the fathers of the new- tribe, the N gatihir ekohatus. ‘Enough,’ gasped the ancient man. ‘my voice fails and my strength is feeble. • It is ended.’ Hohua was exhausted and sad. and wearily sunk on the ground in front of his house. After a time he revive*!. I was sorry to have wearied him. but he said it was nothing. In truth, as he spoke of the long ago, he seemed to forget his great age, and the tire of his youth seemed to burn again within his thin and sinewy body? After this, though he had much to tell. I refrained from drawing him into exciting stories of the olden time. Now the obi warrior Hohua, the Land Tiller, is gone. It is well that the Maori people have escaped from the tyranny of the tohungas. There can. I tliink. be little doubt that the tohunga in the old man s tale was a ventriloquist, as indeed were many of the priests. (TO BE COXTrXVED.I