Te Rou; or, the Maori at Home. A tale, exhibiting the social life, manners, habits and customs of the Maori race in New Zealand prior to the introduction of civilisation amongst them

Front matter

Frontispiece. REFERENCES TO MAP, 1 Ohopa. 2 Motu-kauri. „ „,„>. tlie vouiis taiii 7 Utaltum, 8 Waiiere. 9 Waima. 10 Wtiirinal^. 11 Omanaia. J 12 Caves, resilience of tanlwhos. 13 Motiti i-land and pah. 14 Root, tupua. 1 5 Home of one of tho taniwhas. 16 Otu pah. 17 lloto pah. 18 Mftta pah. 19 Takapima pah. TE EOU; OK, THE MAORI AT HOME. %, &ale, EXHIBITING THE SOCIAL LIFE, MANNERS, HABITS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE MAORI RACE IN NEW ZEALAND PRIOR TO THE

Introduction

OF CIVILISATION AMONGST THEM. BY JOHN WHITE, NATIVE INTERPRETER, AUCKLAND ; FORMERLY RESIDENT MAGISTRATE AT WHANGANUI, AND NATIVE LAND PURCHASE COMMISSIONER. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MAESTON, LOW, AND SEAELE, CROAVN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET. 1874. [_All rights reserved.'] LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STA3IPORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PEEFACE. This volume is intended to be the first of a series designed to illustrate, or rather to exhibit, in as truly a lifelike form as possible, the Maori of the pre civilisation period. Having lived from his youth amongst the Maories, the writer has had peculiar opportunities of becoming acquainted with their modes of thought and expres sion, with their everyday life, their legends, their mythology, and even with their sacred language, in cantations, and rites, now known only to their few old " tohungas," or priests.

To embalm the knowledge so acquired of a highly developed yet savage race, fast disappearing, has been the object of the writer. The tale contained in the present volume is not fiction. Though woven together in the form of a tale, as that most convenient for lifelike representation, the places mentioned are all real, as may be seen on the accompanying map ; the incidents are all true, and have occurred ; the personages are all real, though the names have been slightly altered to avoid unnecessary offence to the living ; the native mode of expression has been carefully followed ; and the songs, proverbs, and incantations are trustworthy (though, perhaps, in some respects imperfect) reproductions of the ancient originals. The series of volumes will comprise within it the PEEFACE. VI Maori legends of the Creation of Man and of the Flood ; of the qualities and uses of created things, and of the rites and ceremonies connected with each ; of the origin of the gods, their powers, attributes, and agency; of the incantations, rites, and ceremonies by which these gods may be invoked and appeased; of the original home of the people, and their migrations up to their arrival in New Zealand ; and of the transformations of man, the abode of spirits, and the final extinction of the soul.

Each volume will be complete in itself, exhibiting special characteristics of the Maori character. The present volume, or tale, exhibits truthfully the everyday bfe, habits, and character of the pre-civilisation Maori ; and as such may be accepted by scientific men as a contribution towards a knowledge of the past from one who, having no pretensions to scientific acquirements, writes from a personal knowledge and observation of the accuracy of the information con veyed. The writer acknowledges with pleasure the assistance afforded him in explaining native names of plants and birds by the valuable works of Dr. Hooker ' On the Flora,' and of Dr. Duller 'On theEirds of New Zealand.' John White. Grafton Eoad, Auckland, 1874. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Introductory — The Origin of Hokianga .. 1 II.

News of the Murders at Otu Pah, and Council of Eevenge .. .. , .. .. .. 10 III. Summoning Allies to take Eevenge .. .. 28 IV. Preparations for Defence at Otu, and Feast of the Slain 46 V. The Allies gather to Te Eoto .. .. 54 VI. The Night before the Attack — Pipo's Love-tale .. .. .. .. .. .. 65 VII. The Attack and Capture of Otu Pah .. 114 VIII. The Return to Te Eoto next Day .. .. 130 IX. The Evening Meal — Pant's Wound and its Payment .. .. .. .. .. .. 138 X. The Watchers of the Dead — Kino and the Woman of Six Husbands — A Woman's Quarrel and its Consequences .. .. .. 145 XL Eou's Indignation at the Burial of his slain Enemies — His Dissertation on how Public Opinion is led, and his Vow of Eevenge . . 177 XII. The Allies returning to their Home — the Escape of a Captive .. .. .. .. CONTENTS.

VIII CHAPTER PAGE XIII. Their Arrival at Home, and their Eeception THERE .. .. .. .. .. .. 207 XIV. The Purification of the Corpse-bearers .. 215 XV. Cooking a dead Slave .. .. .. .. 222 XVI. How a Man has Two old Women forced on na as Wives .. .. .. .. .. 234 XVII. An insulted Wife driven to Suicide, and the Slave's Eevenge on the Husband .. .. 258 XVIII. The Burial and Burial Bites of those who died ln Battle .. .. .. .. .. 264 XIX. Heta wins his Wife Aramita .. .. .. 276 XX. The Search fob the suicide Wife and murdered Husband .. .. .. .. .. 288 XXI. The Finding of the Bodies .. .. .. 295 XXLT. A Debate on the Power of disembodied Spirits 301 XXHI. Evening Tales 310 XXIV. The old Priest's Death, attendant Eites, and Abandonment of the Settlement .. .. TE EOU 5 OB, THE MAOEI AT HOME.

Chapter I. Introductory

— THE ORIGIN OF HOKIANGA. In the northern part of Aotearoa (New Zealand) there is a river which had its origin, according to Maori tradition, in the emulation which arose among certain young Taniwhas,1 one of whom, Waihou, boasted " that he could dig a great distance into the mountains with his nose." Araiteuru, their mother, hearing the boast of her eldest son, ordered all her children to make a tour of the country, each one to dig a trench with his nose, and then return and report what he had accom plished. 1 Monsters. The reader will please to observe in reference to the pronunciation of all Maori words that every letter is sounded ; that the vowel a is invariably pronounced as in the English word father, tbe vowel e as in bet, the vowel i as e in me, and u as in put. By attending to these simple directions the reader will be able to approximate closely to the proper pronunciation.

B TE EOU Waihou took the lead, leaving his home, a cave fifty feet above the level of the sea, on the coast which faces the setting sun. After he had made considerable progress in his trench-digging, the others followed his track, starting at different times, and branching off to the right or left according to the progress they made or the difficulties they met with. Waihou dug on until he came to a flat country, and finding the climate warmer and more congenial to his feelings than the raw west-coast air, he made a large hole with his tail, and took up his abode there. This was the origin of the Omapere lake. After leaving Waihou's track, Waima, not knowing the course his brother had taken, went in a southerly direction for some distance, then turning to the north east, he suddenly found him in his new home.

Orira, while making his way to certain mountains, the interior of which he wished to see, was crossing a low country, where he was met by a giant (there were giants in the land in those days), who questioned him. Orira answered him tartly, upon which the giant gave him a blow on the head, thus ending his life, and preventing any further attempt at trench making. Mangamuka followed nearly the same direction as Orira ; but, in attempting to get into the interior of the mountains towards which his brother was going, he encountered a Tupua 1 (in the shape of a large stone) 1 A spirit having the power of transforming itself into any inanimate thing. OR, THE MAOEI AT HOME. asleep, who refused to be thrown out of the way. The tupua put an end to his further progress by spouting a shower of water out of a hole in his back into the taniwha's eyes, which sent Mangamuka home in disgust.

Every branch of the river * had its origin from one of Araiteuru's sons taking a tour. One of them, a young fellow named Ohopa, was so enraged by the number of rocks he encountered, that he took a deep hatred to every living thing, and to this day he is the terror of the Panguru range of mountains. Another, Wairere, met with many boulders, and wishing to verify his tale, attempted to carry one home on his back. When he reached the point where he had diverged from Waihou's track, he was so exhausted that he fell asleep with the boulder on his head, and there he remains to this day, only partially awakening at times. When any canoe is upset on this stone, it is caused by Wairere, who is partially awake, and is taking revenge because of his unsuccessful attempt to see the country. Early one summer's morning, an aged chief was sitting on his mat in front of his hut.

He looked northward, up the Mangamuka river, and mused over the days of his boyhood. " Ah ! yonder are the hills where, in the days of my youth, I caught the rat, the kiwi, 2 the weka, 3 and the titi !" 4 Holding out his 1 The Hokianga river ; vide map. 2 Apteryx Mantelli, Buller's ' N. Z. Birds,' p. 358. 3 Ocydromus EarK, ibid. p. 165. 4 Pnffinus brevicaudus, ibid. p. 315. B TE ROU arm and addressing it, he said : " How slender and wrinkled you look ! How small the muscles appear which once had power to wield the spear that pierced my enemies! Your skin looks like a partly dried mud-hole, after a heavy summer shower. You are all covered with holes, hills, and valleys. Well, never mind ; I can tell Eou. On the last day of my life he shall hear from my lips a full and exact account of all the unavenged wrongs I have suffered from my enemies. 0 my son, Rou ! thou art of the line of chiefs ; as thou hast learnt from my lips the knowledge that leads thy limbs to action, and thy soul to flash in thine eyes like sparks of fire, to thee I may leave, as an heirloom, my injunction to obtain revenge for me after my death.

My heart is great now that I know that my son will uphold my rank as a warrior, and I shall not die like a coward." Tare was thus talking to himself when his son Eou came up to him and said : " Tare, you once promised to tell me the history of our island home. I am going up to Mangamuka with a few young men ; but as the tide is full we shall have to wait till low water, and in the meantime let us sit here, and you can teach me all about our island pah, * Motiti." " Where have you been to-day ?" asked Tare, " I have just had my morning meal, that is all," answered Eou. " I thought you had been out catching fish — hence my question ; for had you been out fishing, I should 1 An inclosed fortified place. OR, THE MAORI AT HOME. 5 have had to repeat an incantation over you before I could have taught you.

The history of our small island forms part of our sacred knowledge, and could not be taught to any one who had been near raw food until a karakia l had been repeated over him." " I am listening," answered Eou. " You must know that a taniwha, named Araiteuru, lived on the south head of the river, and that in olden times she sent her sons to cut trenches all over the country. The eldest commenced at the ocean shore, and as he went on the sea-water followed him ; the others went in his track, and thus this river in which is our island pah was formed. Not many summers after, our ancestors came across the sea in a canoe, named Mamari, and arrived in this river; they came in search of a man who had left his home beyond the horizon, whose name was Eui. I will tell you about him some other time. Our canoe met that of another migration of people ; their leader was Kupe ; he told our ancestor, Nukutawhiti, that he had just left a large river, which he had named Hokianga-o-Kupe (Kupe's return).

" That river is where we now live. The canoe Mamari, after entering the river, came up here, where she left her ballast, which formed this island. Such is the origin of our pah. " You have also seen the rocks at the mata,2 just visible at low water, and the large one inshore of the others, which is at high-water mark. 0 my son Eou ! that 1 Incantation. 2 Promontory. TE ROU large stone, called Tokawhero, was the buoy, and the others in the water were the anchors of Mamari. 1 ou know that our tribe is named Knpura, and that we are a sub-tribe of Puhi, for the name of Puhi was given to those who are the offspring of Nukutawhiti. There are many sub-tribes living on the branches of this great river, all belonging to the Puhi, but disputes about land and women have at different times caused wars, and there still exists much ill-feeling among them.

On some future occasion, when I am going west with the setting sun, I will tell you the history of my life, in order that you may take revenge upon those from whom I have not obtained satisfaction for injuries I have sus tained. Go up to Mangamuka, my son ; but act as a chief. Be on your guard, for the sons of Eutu live near our tribe, and they have much to revenge. In former days there was a set time for our people to catch rats at Eata. We went there — I was quite young then — and when we had reached our line on yon mountain ridge which you see between the Taniwha peaks, where our ancestors had for ages set traps to catch rats, we found the sons of Eutu already there, taking the rats from the traps we had set over-night. Papa, their chief, was with them, and I singled him out from the rest, and challenged him to single combat, that I might chastise them for their theft.

Being old, he would not deign to accept the challenge of a youth ; which so enraged me, that I lifted my spear in the attitude of the marangai,1 and went up to him, calling him a 1 The principal posture of defence with the spear. coward. One of his people struck at me with his wahaika ; l but I parried, the blow with my hani,2 and the next blow he gave I laid him low, and as silent as the root of the tree on which he fell. "I then pierced Papa with the tongue end of my hani. He fell, but not dead; I stood over him, he would not ask for his life, but smiled at my uplifted weapon, the next blow of which broke into pieces the lines of the tattooing on his brow. Thus we taught the sons of Eutu not to tread on the ridges where we had the sole right of catching rats. O my son Eou ! be like the rat — look all around you in all your travelling, lest at any time an old enemy come upon you.

Be on your guard, and on no account forget the incantations I have taught you for your spear in war, for your canoe in a storm, for your legs to have speed to catch your enemies. " But, above all, in your travels, do not cook or eat food near a place where any of our tribe of Puhi have been left by the priests. Go, my son, and see your brothers, and children, and fathers, at Te Eoto. 0 my son Eou ! be careful of Hanpa and Kaito, who live at Otu. " They are the persons who have to revenge the death of Papa, whom I killed. You know how they obtained the land on which they now live. Being descended from a common ancestor, we once gave a 1 A long-handled wooden hatchet, from the bead of which bangs a tassel of hawks' feathers. 2 A carved wooden spear. TE EOU feast, to which Papa and his tribe were invited.

They came in canoes from one of the lower bends of the river, and while at Pukahu one of their young chiefs was drowned. His body was washed up on that place, and our fathers gave them the land on which Otu stands to appease the grief of the relatives of the young chief. You know Tuawera, who is their priest. He is a restless man, and, like the pigeon-hawk, he will lie in wait to catch any bird off his guard. Be careful, my son. It is true that Tupu and Moka, who are at Waima, can avenge any insult ; but a bve son is better to me than the shark's-tooth or green-stone of many generations which are now in my ears." Te Eou and his companions left for Te Koto, where they arrived without meeting with anything unusual. Te Eoto is a small pah, about three miles from Otu. The inhabitants, who are members of the Kopura tribe, numbered about seventy-five.

The principal body of the Rutu tribe bved near the heads of the river, in Omanaia, and were very restless and overbearing in their conduct towards the other sub-tribes of Puhi. A small number of the Rutu, con sisting of Haupa (the mother of Papa), Kaito, her son, and about twenty-five others, resided in Otu. Tuawera a ventriloquist, and the priest of the Rutu tribe, a man of superior intellect compared with the generabty of chiefs, had often urged Kaito to avenge the death of Papa, saying, " I will becloud the eyes of the Kopura warriors by my incantations, and you can kill them like so many pigeons on the forest trees. They shall nod their heads to and fro, like that bird, in their attempt to see, while you can take your time to kill them." This promise had been given years before, and Kaito, watching for an opportunity, had not yet found one to put his wishes into effect.

TE ROU CHAPTEE II. NEWS OF THE MURDERS AT OTU PAH, AND COUNCIL OF REVENGE. " What do young men know ? I know that there will be a battle ere long ; did you not see the star near the moon last night ? And has it not been believed from time immemorial by those who must have known better than us of these times, and as the old proverb says, 'A star to bite the moon is a prognostic of battle ' ? That there will be a fight or murder soon I am sure." Thus said Kui, who was the speaker. " Hush ! Was not that the war-cry I heard ?" The old woman — for old she was, and decrepit — held her breath, as her heart beat with fear, and her bmbs quivered with agitation, when again was heard the death-tolling war-cry, " Whakariki ! Whakariki !" The children and women of the pah gave a yell of fear, while the old and infirm crouched themselves into a sitting posture of despair.

The young men and those who had been in battle sprang to their weapons of war, and formed in battle square. OR, THE MAORI AT HOME. 11 The chief Eou addressed them, and said : " Who the enemy may be I cannot tell ; but this I do know : we are few in number, which I count a good omen. Last night I dreamt I was spearing pigeons, when a hawk came to take one off the tree ; I threw a spear at him, and killed the thief. This speaks for us. Does not the proverb say, ' A few as a war-party are sure to conquer ' ? Fear not ! The stones of our ovens shall be slaked with the oil of their limbs, which are now so supple and step so firmly towards our pah. Be brave !" Thus saying, he put on a dogskin mat, tied a girdle round his waist, and stood in the centre of the pah, waiting the arrival of the man who had uttered the dreadful cry.

The women were crying to each other in low and plaintive songs composed by those who had, through war, been left widows ; while the children sat crouching by their mothers, waiting with savage glee, mixed with an undefined fear, the solution of a dreaded some thing they had not seen ; and the young men were actively employed in fastening the entrances to the pah. The cry came from a forest, and, echoing in the mountains, sounded with awful fulness on the ears of the listening inhabitants of the pah, sending through their hearts a thrill of fear, and a feeling as if death had already possession of them. The pah was built on a plain of fern, and surrounded by mountains ; a pebbly creek flowed by on the south side, on the margin of which it stood. The pah had been secured when one of a party of three, who had TE ROU; gone off in the middle of the day, arrived, and, standing on the other side of the brook, called to those in the pah to prepare for action.

Then fording the creek, which took him up to the waist, with a fierce counte nance, and out of breath, he stood in the middle of the pah near to Te Eou. Sticking the end of his spear in the ground, and bending forward, still holding it with both hands, he, in a voice quivering with rage and sorrow, yet low and mournful, chanted, whde tears fell fast down his youthful cheeks : — " Ask for the moon to rise, For we have not risen yet. Twice twelve moons have past On their rage, and still It fiercely burns on us. Who should be our enemy, Or who so strong to loose The band that binds my Spear in peace ? High as The rainbow's arch in heaven Are the wrongs which they Have done me. I will lead Tou on ; despair shall prompt The act. They repeated twice The deed, and twice the taunt Repeat. Oh ! that I could breathe Out my rage, and wield O'er them the power of this arm As yet untaught in arts of war."

Then straightening himself up, and pacing some twenty yards with his spear firmly clenched in his hand, he continued : " You all know that three of us left you this morning to amuse ourselves in the forest ; and where think you the other two are ? I stand alone OR, THE MAOEI AT HOME. — nor shall they ever sport with me again in the forest as we were wont to do. We went, and, after following the course of many a brook, and feasting on the eels we caught, we came at last to that rivulet which passes near the sacred hill on which our ancestors' bones now lie. We crossed its foot, and followed its windings, and found ourselves at last at Otu pah, where we were pressed to stay. The smoke of the hangi 1 began to curl upward while I sat in the hut which shelters him who long has been our foe. We sat in stupid silence.

Suddenly I heard a blow, as though a head were struck by a foe. I sprang to my feet. Thine only son, 0 Kui, lay silent as the earth on which he was stretched. I stood — I know not how — I stood over him, to guard the body from the foe. His kinsman, while struggling with a warrior of old, was soon even as thy son. I fled — say not in fear. I came to tell, and seek redress for thy children's death, which else had never been heard." He then went and rubbed noses with all the people in the pah, and by that time the wailing had become general, and sound of it was heard like a horrible din. After the noise made by those who wept aloud had partially subsided, Kui rose on her feet, and throwing off all her garments but one, with the sudden impulse of rage she appeared young again. WTth a stone club in her hand she paced a short distance, and said, " Cursed be the dogs who have thus dealt with me !

May their heads be used by children for balls ; may 1 Native oven. TE EOU their flesh be used to catch eels with ; may their bones be used as barbs for fishing hooks ; may their intes tines be twisted into knots by the gods ; may they be cooked and eaten by slaves ! Had the father of my boy been alive they would not have dared to do this ; but since he slept all bravery has died. Slaves only live now. Well said the proverb, ' Their bravery is in eating food, my child.' We are all children, or before to-morrow's sun has risen they who now mock us would have gone down the Pohutukawa root at the Eeinga, I will avenge them. Tuhua's glass1 can cut deep, and from my own veins give blood enough to look at, which will make you of this once brave tribe turn cowards. I knew the time when a word of insult given to our fathers would have deluged the earth with blood.

Live on, you cowards ! sons of fathers who if they were alive would disown you. Live !— when you are old enough you can be made to cook for those who trembled at your father's name !" The old woman, having spent her strength in this sneering speech to her tribe, sat down quite exhausted. She commenced to cry in a low tone, hiding her head in a rough mat. Then a chief, who had seen his enemy's spear-points in many a battle, rose, and stood looking for some time at the people. He then walked backward and forward, at every turn kicking the dust from under his feet, and in a frenzied passion asked, " Who does our mother call cowards ? How dead your memory 1 Obsidian. must be. Did you not see the heads of those who fell by our hands but a few moons ago ? Did you not put those very heads on the four corner sticks to which you fastened the web of the mat you were making, and in which you now hide your head ?

Cry, and fill yourself with crying, and perhaps your tears will bap tize us into brave men. What did the father of your boy do ? You can tell us the men he slew, and call to the slaves now in our pah which he took in war. Can you teach us to be brave ? Let the dead sleep, and all they have done, save the deeds of daring, which we can imitate." Te Eou now rose, and, very slowly pacing a few yards, said, " The sun has set, nor will the moon rise over the top of Tamioha. This is not the time for taunting. Watch well the pah, and at intervals cry the pass-word, to let prowlers know it were not well for them to venture near ; for .the sons of Puhi never sleep soundly save when blood for blood has slaked revenge. Ere midnight has passed we can each say his word ; but let not reckless youth be bold of speech in the war council."

The chiefs now assembled in the carved house which stood on one side of the pah, near the grave of Te Ipu, the father of one of the murdered youths. The house was forty feet long by twenty-eight wide, and about ten feet high ; a verandah shaded the front ; the eave boards were carved from end to end ; in the centre was the face of a man fully tattooed, and the tongue, which protruded, was as large as the rest of the face. TE ROU The posts of the verandah were also carved. The sides were made by tying the swamp-reed1 side by side, giving it the appearance of being fluted. The door was a broad piece of wood sliding in a groove at the top and bottom ; this was marked with red-ochre and the juice of the poporo 2 in scroll. In the end of the house there was a small piece of board, similarly made and marked as the door, which was opened to let the heat of the fire out, there being no chimney.

The sides of the interior were lined with reeds ; the ends of the rafters were carved, the middle being covered with scrolls in red-ochre. The floor was covered with dry grass, over which were mats made of the flax leaf, split into shreds and plaited, on which each chief sat cross-legged, and wrapped in his mat. In the centre of the house there was a square hole bned with four flat stones, in which burnt the bark of the rimu,3 giving a fire which made no smoke. The flooring mats were scented with a sweet-smelling grass, named karetu.4 After all were assembled, silence reigned for some time. Te Rou was the first speaker. He said, " We are but few, and our enemy is strong : what we do must be done promptly. To pass over such an unpro voked insult would be to end in the truth of the accu sations of cowardice to-day heaped on us by one who never killed but a flea on a dog's back or the vermin 1 Arundo conspicua, called by the natives toefoe. 2 Solanum aviculare. 3 Dacrydium cupressinum, the " rtd pine " of the settlers. 4 Hierochloe rcdolens. in a child's head.