SONGS OF THE MAORI by W. W. BIRD I hope my readers will not be disappointed when I tell you at the outset that, under this heading, it is not my intention to deal with the modern Maori songs which, though they have a somewhat wide appeal to the younger generation, cannot be regarded as coming within the category of true Maori poetry or literature. These modern tunes are, of course, derived from pakeha sources, and their music is therefore not really Maori. Thus I am told that, when Bernard Shaw on his visit to New Zealand was entertained with some Maori songs, he was disappointed to recognise the air of a well known German Volkslied. Nor can much be said in favour of the language of these modern Maori songs. Take for example the well known ‘Hoki hoki tonu mai’—sung sometimes to a tune which, though it has a Maori flavour, is not truly Maori, and sometimes, for the purpose of a poi dance, to the tune of ‘Little Brown Jug’. The first verse is passable:— ‘Again and again, the spirit of my loved one returns to me, clasping me once more in fond embrace’. Hoki hoki tonu mai Te wairua o te tau Ki te awhi ringa Ki tenei kiri, e te tau But following this comes: Ka pinea koe e au Ki te pine o te aroha Ki te pine o kore nei E waikura, e te tau. ‘You are pinned by me With the pin of love With the pin which will never rust, O my darling’. This is poor Maori and maudlin sentiment. These songs may, however, be regarded for what they are worth as the mode in which the modern Maori youth expresses himself with the aid of a ukelele or other kind of guitar, largely after the fashion of the young Hawaiians. But the Songs of the Maori which form my subject are those which have been current amongst the various tribes from time immemorial, and which constitute therefore the true poetry of the Maori and form a most interesting part of his unwritten literature. To Sir George Grey, the most distinguished and ablest of our governors, we owe the first attempt to collect the traditions of the Maori and to establish a Maori literature. He set himself to learn the Maori language, not so much with a literary purpose, as from the conception that a knowledge of Maori was necessary to enable him to perform properly every duty to his country and to the people he was appointed to govern. Then, as Grey himself tells us in the preface to his book, he had formed a very high appreciation of the work of the missionaries amongst the Maori, and felt that something should be done to show the full extent of the work they had accomplished and what they had overthrown. Hence it seemed to him desirable that in New Zealand a monument should be raised to show, in some measure, what the country was before the Maoris were converted to the Christian faith; and no more fitting means of accomplishing such an object appeared attainable than that of letting the people themselves testify of their former state, by collecting their traditional poetry and their heathen prayers and incantations, composed and sung centuries before the light of Christianity had broken upon their country. It was also clear, to those persons who study the history of the human race as developed in the history, customs and language of different nations, that such a work would possess a high degree of interest, and it seemed probable that there would be many persons who would study with pleasure the poetry of a savage race, whose songs and chants, while they contain so much that is wild and terrible, yet, at the same time, present many passages of the most singularly original poetic beauty.