THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 19, 13 May 1909, Page 733

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

MEMOIRS OF THE EARLY DAYS

(Contributed.)

Writings of the Early Missionaries (continued). Letter from Rev. Father Servant to Very Rev. Father Colin. Saint Mary's, Hokianga, N.Z., October 15, 1839. ' Very Rev. Superior and dear Father, — The letter dated August 1, 1838, with which you have honored me has given me an incredible joy. I bless God a thousand times for the paternal sentiments you have expressed to me, and for the anxiety you have for my spiritual advancement. How much I am touched by your exhortations ! How grateful I am to you for your orders and your advice, which breathe only charity. lam only too happy to be remembered by you and to be the object of your zeal' and vigilance. lam always at Hokianga. Father Baty, to whom his Lordship has given the direction of this mission, has been here since June. Already he knows the language well enough to instruct the Natives. Shall I speak to you to-day of the life led by the missionary in New Zealand? The crosses, the happy lot of the apostles, are everywhere great and abundant, but the consolations are greater than the crosses. In a preceding letter I made known to you the beginning of our mission ; to-day my intention is to give you some details of the people to whom we are called to preach the Gospel. ' The religious system of the New Zealanders presents some remarkable peculiarities; nevertheless, I shall say few things about it, because my instruction on this point is not complete enough. The Natives, whom I have consulted, agree generally in saying that the worshipping of idols is unknown- -in New Zealand; the spirits alone are adored by them. As to the figures and statues that are met with in the country, these are so many memorials of their ancestors killed in battle. They are usually placed on the tops of the palisades which surround the villages, and which serve for fortifications. The pirogues of war, the arms, and even the commonest utensils are ornamented with sculptures and designs of a work more finished than varied. The forms that they produce are nearly always strange and sometimes frightful — a huge tongue, with shining eyes made of the shell of a large oyster; this is, for the Natives, the most magnificent effigy. They have a pronounced liking for music, but they are wanting in instruments. . The only one on which they play is a worthless flute with four notes, and from it they draw only monotonous sounds. Their song, modulated in a language as sweet as it is poetical, has for them charms with which Europeans appear little touched. When they express the affection that they have for their parents, their friends, or their country, jdieir faces are inflamed and impressed with an inimitable sensibility. Nothing equals the vivacity of their imagination. ' If

they are tolling a story, it is not only the mouth which speaks: it is the whole body, and the silent language of the latter adds to the interest of the recital; the words of the personages that they put into action are repeated word for word; their tone of voice and their gestures scrupulously imitated. The whole scene, in a word, 4s reproduced under your eyes with the most minute exactness. When, a chief approaches a tribe to whom he goes to pay a visit they cry to him from afar, "Come! come!" At his arrival long lamentations commence; they sing, they weep, sometimes they tear the forehead and the cheeks with shells. It is their cry of affection, and the prelude of a song called the cry of tenderness. The chiefs then sit on some mats prepared for them, and after some instants of silence the most distinguished among them speaks. Later on the conversation is animated; it always languishes at his first appearance, each one appearing more pre-occupied with what he ought to say than with the desire to speak. The most used forms of salutation are very simple. The " goodday" is expressed nearly thus: "It is then thou." "Remain there," they say in taking leave of someone. "Go away " replies tbe person who receives the good-bye. In order to deliver me from the importunities of a Maori, without always wounding his self-love, here is my method: "Is thy discourse ended?" "No," replies he. "Ah, well, speak; and when you shall have finished, you shall ■go out, because I want to write." If he does not give in at this first invitation I add: "You have said enough; be off with you." If he is still obstinate in remaining, at last I say to him: "Do you wish to trouble me?" At this last word he always leaves. ' Two things easily provoke the anger of the Natives ; these are offensive words and the violation of ceremony. They look upon some words, as being so offensive that they revenge themselves by the death of him who has uttered them. As to etiquette, I one day rather- gravely compromised myself by a deviation from it. In the middle of a dance which my neophytes executed in my honor, I was hegged to preside at the reception of a great chief who came to visit them. As yet, too little accustomed to their habits, I happened to be wanting in Native politeness. This was enough to excite their anger; but peace was not long in being re-established, and I was left to address the assembly with some words of justification. Each tribe has many chiefs who recognise among them one superior lo them in dignity and in power. This one has authority over the life and the death of his slaves, his children, and of the inferior chiefs of his tribes. When he thinks of declaring war, the people are summoned in council. In the middle of the circle that the subjects form the principal warriors are seen walking around and greatly excited. They speak in a loud voice, and express by their animated gestures, by their looks the punishment they intend to inflict on their enemies. Once the decision is taken it is made known to them to what condition they ought to- submit to preserve peace. On their refusal war is declared in these terms: "Go into the woods," which is equivalent to saying: "We shall reduce you to slavery; your names will be forgotten, and you shall be governed only by women." The Maori's respect for the dead goes so far as to punish as a crime even a shadow of a profanation ; thus, one runs the risk of one's life in going into a cemetery at any other time than when a funeral ceremony is taking place. The last honors consist, besides the song of grief, of laying the corpse in a coffin painted red and ornamented with divers figures, and exposing it for some time on a pillar, the height of which is in accordance with the dignity of the deceased. ' How shall I describe to you the happy influence that religion exercises on the Natives? You shall judge it by a few facts I quote. • A tribe resolved on having a war. The chief harangued the people, and they heard only words of blood. Then one of the principal warriors came to me and said : " True, missionary, Aye are wicked people; speak, speak for peace." I spoke, and a complete reconciliation followed my discourse. "Father," a young man of the Wirinaki tribe wrote to me, " I am sad on account of my wickedness. Every day I ask God that my sins may be destrpyed. I must go to Papakawau (residence of the missionary) to see you and consult you." "True missionary," said a good neophyte to me " say the evening prayer for this sick man that he will become better." He was a sick man little disposed to receive Baptism. What could be more touching than these words of a young chief: "If my body experiences hunger after having spent a day and a half without eating, my soul feels yet more vividly ths need of being instructed; make known to me the proofs of the Catholic religion, because when they ask me the reason of my faith I support my head on my hand, and I seek, but as I find nothing I remain dumb." The news having been spread that the Protestant ministers had intended to drive us from the island, a great number of the islanders came to Mgr. Pompallier.

" Bishop," said One of the principal chiefs to him, " ypu have left your own country and your family to bring the light to us ; stay, stay ; we are all here to defend you, and shall perish to the last on the threshold of your dwelling before they lay a hand on you." But God watched over us * with a solicitude which rendered this devotion unnecessary. _ He did not permit that our enemies dared to show themselves.'

(To be continued.)