KOROTANGI

Te Ao Hou, September 1955, Page 36

KOROTANGI By W. J. PHILLIPPS THE YEAR WAS 1878, and a gale of wind blew from the north to strike Waikato with more than ordinary violence. This gale blew over an old manuka tree growing in a disused rua (or storage pit) somewhere between Raglan and Kawhia. A Maori living nearby went to investigate and found at the roots of the tree a carved stone bird which was soon hailed as the long lost Korotangi by the three great chiefs, Rewi Maniapoto, Tawhiao and Te Ngahau. Its finder sold it to a European, Mr Albert Walker, who deposited it at a house in Cambridge, From Mr Walker the stone bird passed to Mrs Wilson, £50 being paid for it. In an article by Major Wilson and E. Tregear.* Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1888, vol. 22, p.499. we read that Mrs Wilson was strongly advised by Te Ngahau to cast it into the depths of the Waikato River for fear she would suffer makutu—or bewitchment—at the instance of persons who themselves wished to become possessed of the treasure. Mrs Wilson's death is, by some, ascribed to makutu on this account. We can very well, then, judge of the anxiety to have the Korotangi placed where there would be little likelihood of its falling into obnoxious hands, so it was placed in a bank where it remained for many years. Mrs Wilson was the wife of Major Wilson, and was known as Te Aorere or Agnes. It was her son Jack who succeeded to the stone bird, which he held for safe keeping at the Bank of New Zealand, Wellington. On the death of Jack Wilson, Korotangi passed to his widow, Mrs Smith Wilson, who has deposited it in the Dominion Museum, Te Aorere, who refused to have Korotangi hidden away. From a painting on deposit in the Dominion Museum. a stipulation being that Korotangi must never be stored in the dark but must always see the light of day. Korotangi is made of a kind of dark green serpentine, and is 10 ½ in. from point of beak to tail. Actually, it somewhat resembles a prior; but the nostrils are those of a duck. The shape of the bird has also been compared to that of a pigeon or dove. Similar carved birds are found in Japan and Malaya, and have been unearthed in excavations at Ur on the Chaldees. George Graham, writing in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. 26, 1917, has an interesting account of the story of Korotangi which he states is undoubtedly of great antiquity. He has heard the legend of Korotangi recited in varying forms among the Waikato, Hauraki, Kaipara and Arawa people, and inclines to the belief that it is of Tainui origin. Graham states: “A version of the waiata for the Korotangi was sung for me by Noka Hukanui, an aged man of the Awataha settlement in Shoal Bay, Auckland. He claims descent from Tainui crew and Waiohua tribe of these parts, and asserts that this was the form in which he had heard the waiata for Korotangi sung by the old people of Waitemata and Waikato:— He Waiata tenei no te rironga o te manu ko Korota:— Kaora te aroha o taku nei manu Titoko tonu ake i te ahiahi Ka tomo ki te whare taku ate kau ai Tirohia iho, e hine, ma, ki te parera e tere atu na

Ehara tena he manu Maori. Me tikina Me titiro ki te huruhuru whakairo mai no tawhiti. Kei whea Korotau ka ngaro nei? Tena ka riro, kei te kato kai I te rau pohata nga whakangaeroe. E waiho ana koe hei tiaki whare He korero taua ki taku taumata. I koparea pea koe ki te huahua Pohewahewa mai no Rotorua. This is the lament for the loss of the bird Korota:— Overwhelming is my affection for my bird It prepossesses my soul's deepset depths at eventide When I enter my house; and causes my heart to throb. Look! oh daughters, at the duck which swims away yonder That is indeed no common bird, Bring it and Observe its plumage ornamented abroad in distant parts. Oh where is Korota lost? He has departed—to pluck food From the leaves of the pohata (sow thistle) With (his) deep thrusting bill. You were left to guard the home So that the hostile war-party might have cause to speak of my hill-top home. Perhaps you turned your eyes away to the preserved birds From Rotorua, causing you to stray from here. The late Mr Raureti Te Huia tells us that for many generations Korotangi had been hidden at Te Kakawa, on the southern side of Aotea Harbour. Until the time when the bird was said to have disappeared, its guardians were a family of Tainui descent. The last surviving member of this family passed on the story to Mr Te Huia. It is a fact that Korotangi has some peculiar charm to the people of Waikato. The eyes of leaders still dim with tears as they see this bird. Some even sob. It is said to have come to New Zealand in the Tainui Canoe, and to have been consulted as an oracle on all important matters. In fact, Waikato people tell us that Korotangi was carried on war expeditions, and consulted as required, being set on a hilltop by the taua, or war party, and invoked for help. Many believe that even yet an unseen influence radiates from it. Its mana tapu is indeed great. Members of the Hamilton Technical College Maori choir now have their own piu piu, as the result of a special effort by the Parent-Teachers' Association, with the co-operation of Guide Rangi. When she heard that the college was encouraging its Maori pupils with their own native arts and singing, Guide Rangi undertook to make the piu piu, and went to Hamilton to present them.

“I do not know what adjectives I should use for you. Your love and purity of character overwhelm me. I am incapable of testing you.” So Gandhi wrote to his disciple Vinoba whose name like his master's is a household word in India today. “To reach his spiritual attainments”, the Mahatma wrote to Vinoba's parents, “I have passed a lifetime of spiritual endeavour.” Who is this Vinoba, almost unknown till a few years ago in India, whose one-man crusade based on love and non-violence is now sweeping the country like fire?