Maoris Hear Voices Of The Turehu

Chronicle (Levin), 9 November 1948, Page 6

Maoris Hear Voices Of The Turehu

Press AssoQtGtton)

(Per

WHANGAREI. ;Nov. 8. During work iii the Puketi forest on tlie Kauri ' which was f eiled to make a canoe for the Royal visit, mos/ of the Maoris^ employed onthe task claimed at various times to have heard the strange voices of the Turehu. Now, a Maori who had nothing, to do with the fellmg of the tree says voices of Turehu have been heard iii" the branclies of the totara tr^e unedf which the half hollowed canoe is lying in the! grounds of Puhi'niohila. Ariki Haliy near Kaikohe.- > . In this case the majority of witnessfep have been young men,' not old ' people steeped in the lore and learning ' of their ancestors. The Turehu are * always heard and never seen.' Geuerally the "visitation" comes as"a babel of voices speaking a . strange, hurNed jargon that appears to the Maori listener to be the Maori language yet no oue has ever been able to tell what they say to eaeh other. The'caiioe incident has revived interest in the Turehu who are usually dismissed as "the spirit people." Some three miles of the far north coastline luiown as East Beach, east oi Ngataki, have been declared tapu by the Maoris of the AupouriHribe. This follows tlie accidental drowning last Thursday of John . Taliitahi, aged 22, single, of Waihopo, while, fishing with two young companions. The tapu wiH reniain in f orce for oue nionth. This period is shorter than usually dictated by Maori tradition owing to the early discovery of the, body." Tlie tapu has been notiiied by. press advertisement to ensure that* it wiil be fespected by botli pakelia and Maori users of the beach, and the Marine Department has also been advised.