BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

New Zealand Tablet, 25 February 1915, Page 13

BISHOP CLEARY ON VISITATION

t ON THE HORSE-TRAIL. (From an occasional correspondent.) . Hokianga, February- 8. From Ahipara, his Lordship the Bishop of Auckland had arranged for a visit to what is known as the Sweetwater gumfields. The direct objective was that’ part of it known as Sobrisky’s, which was most conveniently situated as a centre for a gathering of Catholics. The track was hardly suited even for the strenuous motoring by which the Bishop established, on this trip, a number of ‘records’ for the North. ’ The journey over, the soft sandhills could, indeed, have been accomplished by his self-propelled vehicle, but, in such wet and stormy weather as then prevailed, only at an expenditure of trouble and of energy out of proportion to the results achieved in mere progression. It was, therefore, decided to accept the kindly help of Mr. Bernard arid his buggy rind pair ; and he and the Bishop set out in the beating rain for Sobrisky’s early on January 29. The rough and toilful ascent of the sandhills and the other hills was achieved after some six miles of beach, and after a total drive of two and a-quarter hours the newcomers found a considerable number of Maori and Dalmatian gum-diggers assembled for Mass. Father Bruning had been preparing them since the previous evening. A Maori welcome was accorded to the Bishop, who then celebrated Mass in a gum-shed. He also briefly addressed the congregation in English and Maori. There were many communicants, and after Mass a number were confirmed. The increasing rain and a howling gale made the return trip extremely unpleasant. A fierce and blind-, ing sand-storm blew’ from the soft sandhills along the beach, filled the atmosphere, stung the faces, penetrated everywhere, and twice brought the horses sharply up and nearly capsized the buggy. After a long buffeting, the party reached the hospitable roof of the Reid family at Ahipara. The same afternoon the Bishop and Father Bruning left the Ahipara beach by motor, accompanied part of the way by Mr. Bernard and Mr. Bergham, who gave valuable assistance with spade and otherwise, which enabled the Bishop to get off the beach to the main road, in fine style, on the unaided power of his own car. (Motorists may, perhaps, be interested in the following bit of information. The day after his first arrival, on his own power, on the Ahipara beach, the Bishop discovered a way which, with about two hours’ work, could be negotiated to this magnificent beach by cars of moderate power. The way in question is to the left of the sandy-floored road-cutting ; it lies to the west of the usual horse and wheel track, in the direction of the Native whare-hui, or meeting-house, past some nikau palms, and along the beach-side of a fence. It leads to a part of the beach where there are only some twenty yards of fairly soft sand, which could be traversed on power or by the aid of cocoamatting, which, unless ‘ anchored ’ to the ground in the way devised by -the Bishop, is crumpled up by#' the driving -wheels and is often, in very soft sand, a delusion and a snare. His Lordship succeeded with the unanchored matting on two occasions ; on the third and only other occasion on which he needed the matting—in a long tract of very deep, soft sand—the spiking or ‘ anchoring’ of it, which was very speedily accomplished, made it almost as rigid as a board. On the hundreds of •other occasions on which soft sand was passed, it was done on the car’s own power, with only the aid of'six chains on each driving wheel.) Herekino and Further South.. From Ahipara to Herekino, the next stop, the trip was made in steady rain that made the narrow road—especially on the long, winding ascent and descent of the gorge —dangerously greasy. At Herekino ’ the Bishop and Father Bruriing covered up the car, and ‘ stabled*’ it in an open paddock. They stayed at Mr. Gartner’s boarding-house. , Next day (Saturday, January 30)

1 ■ ■- ~v> - - :- . . -”t • >.V.. they set out, ,in fine weather, for the isolated port-town-ship of Whangape. The wheel-road ended some two miles past Herekino, \so the car was left to . rest in • itspaddock, while the Bishop and Father Bruning mounted on trusty steeds brought for them from Whangape Iby Father Zangerl and two Native youths, r A pack-horse carried the visitors’ necessary belongings to Whangape. For a few miles the horse-track was graded; then, over a high * saddle ’ in the ranges, it became 'worse and worse, even for dry weather, while in winter it is in great part quite impassable. V, : On their way, the land kept ■ steadily improving, with little homesteads here and there in the mountain waste of low scrub and fern, and little fertile -flats planted with kumeras and maize. There must have been a considerable Maori population in these wilds in olden days. Evidence of this is afforded by the earthwork remains on several'fortified hills (pas) and the (sometimes buried) piles of pipi and other shells which told of many an old-time feast. Heavy fighting, is said to have taken place around one of those old hill-top pas as late as about 1850. Arrived at Whangape, the visitors found the sawmills closed for lack of water for the engines. A small steamer lay idle at the timberwharf. Beyond the deep tidal river, on rich flats, lay the scattered Catholic village of Whangape, with its pretty, spired wooden church on a height at the back of the old fortified pa. ' The village on the North side of the river is Protestant. y ... At the river’s edge all the horses were unsaddled or unpacked. The four Whangape horses then waded of their own accord in the river, deliberately selecting the narrowest part, and swam, strongly homewards across. They were caught and held on the other side for the final run of about a mile to the village, partly over rough rocks specked over here and there with bits of copper ore. The other two horses knew not so well the ways of Whangape, so they were led astern from the ferry-boat, which carried the party and their belongings to the south side of the river. The led horses took not kindly to their enforced swim, and labored heavily and blew sudden and resounding breaths as the wavelets of the incoming tide flapped upon their nostrils. There are over two hundred Catholic Maoris, and a few Catholic whites, in Whangape. The Maoris accorded the Bishop and his party the customary Native welcome, waving green palm-leaves or leafy branches, with loud cries of ‘ haeremai ’ (‘come hither—welcome’) ; they also sang to a quaint old air the following ancient chant as the party entered the marae or enclosure of the fine new Native home (Mr. and Mrs. McMath’s) where the visitors stayed : ‘ Haere mai ra, e te manuhiri tu a rangi, via taku potiki koe, i tiki atu hi te taha-tu o te rangi, kukume mai ai. Haeremai.’ A literal translation into English cannot be supplied by the present writer. Even Father Becker, with his profound knowledge of Maori, would not attempt it. The words are all known, the construction is the puzzle. Here are a few of the principal ones: Welcome,’ ‘guest,’ ‘sky,’ or ‘ heaven,’ ‘ latest born pet,’ ‘ pull this way,’ ‘ welcome.’ The reader can make them ‘ read ’ as best he may. The present writer ‘gives it up.’ A few days later, at Whirinaki, the Bishop had an opportunity of testing Father Becker’s statement that Native 1 explanations ’ of those old chants and paos are almost always unsatisfactory. An explanation of some old tribal sayings was asked for by the Bishop. .It took over an hour for two elderly Natives to explain them. Before the explanations,’ the sayings were a puzzle; after the ‘explanations’ they were a mystery as deep as the ./Elia Telia Crispis. After the chant, the large gathering of Natives drew up in a crescent, in the customary single ■ file, and as the Bishop passed along the line, . they -.shook hands with’ him and kissed the episcopal ■ ring. The Korero, or speeches of welcome, then began—often in picturesque), and happy phrase. Among the speakers were a venerable old man arid woman (Peri Te Huhu and Ngawini) who had received the-faith in Bishop Pompallier’s time, and helped

to keep it alive among their people during the dark days when the missions were bereft of" any priest's except the devoted Dr. . McDonald and, for a space, on© or two others. : One of the speakers said ; ‘ Three Bishops came ‘here to usone (Dr. Pompallier) on foot, one (Dr. Viard) on a horse; and one (Dr. Cleary) on a motor car.’ Father Becker also spoke, and Father Bruning gave an entertaining account of the Bishop’s motor trip to Houhora and the far North, which interested the bearers in the highest degree.. His Lordship replied in Maori to the speeches of welcome. ‘ - " . • " Next morning (Sunday, January. 31) the Bishop celebrated the principal Mass at 10 o’clock in the pretty church. . Nearly two hundred persons were present, including a few non-Catholics. The proportion of children is very high among the Catholic Maoris at Whangape, and their numbers are steadily increasing. A lucid and ‘ taking ’ explanation of the Sacrament of Confirmation was given in Maori by Father Bruning. A considerable number of both sexes were confirmed after Mass. During the day the Bishop went over the earthworks and wahi tajm (cemetery) of the old pa, accompanied by Mr. McMath, who gave an interesting account of that and another old fortified place of the tribe on a steep conical hill just across the river, which was the scene of some heavy Native fighting as late as the ’fifties. In the oldest cemetery, where Mr. MeMath’s grandfather lies buried, there still remain some of the miniature houses where the dead were enclosed before underground interment was generally adopted here. One Catholic interment of this kind (coffined) was conducted here some twenty years ago. It is the Maori counterpart of the shelved vaults that were formerly fairly common in the British Isles. The contents of those receptacles for the dead were removed a good many years ago and consigned to regular earthburial. Some two hundred Natives sat on the ground in long double lines to discuss the generous supply of eatables, fresh from the fierce steam of the Maori hangi or hot-stone oven. These provisions were placed, in characteristic Native profusion, on a lengthy strip of neat Native floor matting made from the phormium tenax, better known by its wrong name of ‘ flax.’ During the afternoon two fine Native (clothing) mats (one 4 of them a * feather mat) were presented to the. Bishop, who suitably replied in Maori. Questions were also asked and satisfactorily answered regarding the work of revision of the Maori prayer book and catechism, now in hand. Matihetihe. Whangape is one of the most isolated communities in New Zealand. The entrance by sea is over a bad bar, then past a big black rock, after which the river channel takes an almost right-angled turn towards the south, leaving the vessel broadside on to the waves; next the incoming craft sharply rounds another menacing rock to the left—while near it there lies the stormtossed relic of a former wreck to encourage the hardy navigator. While the Bishop was in Whangape, there was a local dearth of flour, soap, matches, and tobacco, and the settlers were endeavoring to get supplies of these ■ commodities by pack-horses over the wild mountain. tracks from the Hokianga. On Monday, February 1, the Bishop, accompanied by Fathers Bruning and Zangerl, a small cavalcade of Whangape Natives, and Mr Heremia To Wake (Whakarapa) toiled on horseback up the breakneck ‘Golden Stairs that lead towards the Catholic village of Matihetihe, on the crest. The narrow track is terribly steep and crooked, and would be very dangerous to any horses but those accustomed (as were all the present party’s mounts) to such uncivilised ‘ road conditions as those with which, after some sixty years of settlement, the wealth-producers of these promising districts have to be content. For the greater part of its course, this pig-track runs along the arete. or back-bone of a steep hill, where a false step, or a slip, or a heavy gust of wind, would send horse and rider rolling over

and over for hundreds of feet to, the whit© foaming edge of the salt .water far below. In the winter ; the' track is a; greasy clay puddle, down which the sure-footed local norses sometimes slip, guiding themselves as they go, till they fetch up against a piece of rock or stump or tree-root. ' -, 1 . The distance from Whangape to Matihetihe is eight reputed miles. But they seem to give pretty, good measure in these parts; for it took three hours to traverse the distance, and the * Bishon remarked • that the Whangape mile is like an Irish mile-you know where it begins, but heaven alone knows where it ends. Part of the trip was oyer rocks so tumbled and rugged and steep, that all the riders but one dismounted and led their mounts slowly over them. The exception was a Maori youth. .He stuck to his horse as the nimble brute scrambled up and bumped and slithered down the torn and rugged rocks, in apparently imminent risk of many a crashing fall.. At Matihetihe the visitors were greeted , with an imitation of the old-time Maori challenge. Far inside the fence of the Marae or village enclosure the population were gathered together, most of the adults, ready for the war-dance, all with feathers in their hair, and many with old-time weapons, such as the taiaha,. etc. From among them came the challenger, with painted face, grotesque grimaces, protruding tongue and cries of defiance. He was selected for his swiftness of foot. Outside the enclosure there awaited him the rival champion. The challenger, threw a white wand at the rival. This was a signal for a wild race between the two. If the rival champion, in the old time, caught the challenger, he was entitled to break the latter’s neck; his side were, so far victors, and the fight might not, perhaps, proceed any further. If the challenged party’s runner failed to make a ‘ catch,’ the victory so far rested with what we may call the home team. In the present Instance (perhaps out of compliment to the visitors') the incomers were allowed to catch their man. But, of course, no harm befell him. After this cur-tain-raiser, a fine war-haka .was danced. Afterwards, the formal lor cm of welcome took place outside the church, the Bishop and priests standing on mats spread under nikau palms. The Bishop replied in, Maori, ,in figures of speech which appeared to be much appreciated by hearers always keen to hear new terms of thought or of expression. That night the Bishop and the clergy were guests, of the Kendall family. The next morning the Bishop celebrated Mass at 9 o’clock. This was followed by a fine discourse in Maori, by Father Bruning, on the Sacrament of Confirmation. At Whangape, Matihefihe, Whirinaki, Motuti, Motukaraka, Waihou, and Whakarapa, Father Bruning spoke also, with much eloquence and effect, on various other matters affecting Native Catholics. There was a good number of candidates for Confirmation at Matihetihe. An elaborate and finely-cooked open-air dinner was served in European fashion by. the Natives. The table reserved for the Bishop and priests was set under a bower, erected for the occasion, and covered on all sides and above with the long, graceful fronds of. the nikau palm. Beyond it stretched a single row of long tables, set under the shade of open nikau palms, carried from the gullies up the adjoining hills and planted on the village marae as if they had grown there.. A new church is soon to be erected at Matihetihe to replace the quaint old one, built long years ago, its inner walls and roof adorned, in the Native fashion, with neatlooking, .but highly inflammable stems of the ravpo , a sort of big bulrush. After the farewell words were spoken the Bishop,. Father Bruning, and several Natives set out on fresh horses (with- one pack-horse) along the beach and over the barren sandhills on a visit to the various Catholic missions, on the Hokianga River and its tributaries. But that is .another story which remains to be told. ;