MAORI PROPHETS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20107, 29 November 1939, Page 2

MAORI PROPHETS

STIRRING DAYS RECALLED The stirring days of Te Whiti and Tohu, the .Maori prophets of Parihaka in the eighties, are recalled by the life and work of Kapua Keepa, an ancient of the Ngatimaru tribe, who has been busy in his historic home near Taratn, Taranaki, setting down in permanent form the traditional lore of the Maori. Much of this has been in previous years passed down by word of mouth through the elders of the tribes but Kapua believes that he has much that hitherto has been unrecorded, and he avers that some of his genealogies trace back to Adam and the times when New Zealand was under the ocean.

Kapua is believed to be the lost of the Ngatimaru chiefs, and, as a young man. was principal teacher to tiie young Maoris of the haka and poi. It is of interest to recall that the power and mana of Te Whiti were broken in 1881 when a force of military. including volunteers from most of the rifle and naval companies in Wellington, was led by the leading military commanders of Taranaki and accompanied by the Hon. John Bryce to the siege of the Maori stronghold, which surrendered without fighting and the prophets taken away prisoners to Wellington. The place where the old chief is living at present is the site of an old pa, rich in historical associations.