TARANAKI.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 5, Issue 276, 9 June 1865, Page 3

TARANAKI.

PAI MARIRE. (From the TaranaM Herald.) A Maori document, of which wo subjoin a copy aud translation, was found in the late expedtiion southward. It isinTeUa’s handwriting, and is interesting as being the earliest known edition of the Pai Martre ritual, probably the earliest extant, for, besides the date (which is 26th October, 1862), there is internal evidence of its being ancient by the absence of the long since universal “ hau.” We believe, also, that it will be found to explain the origin of the espresion Pai Marire. We have suplied a few conjectural emendations which seemed necessary for rendering itintelligible, but as they are indicated by b rackets the reader can accept them or not as he pleases. Ko te Kongo pai marire i wkakakitea Id a Tuwhakararo Tutawhake. tangata iti raws o te iwi [o] Taranaki hei j iluoi:— ■ • A tua pai marire; Ta maitipai marire; \t>[i] tua tapu [pai] mature, rive, rire, lire. [Ko te] 10 [o nga ra o Hopeteraa, 1362]. He ra noho puku—ho whakaotiriga no te ra hamumuti[a] i Mataiwitu [Mataiwhetu kainga [o] Taranaki [i te] 5 o ugarao Ilepetema. 1802. [Ko to] 11. Ko te ra wbakamate i patna ai e an taku taraalti hoi utu oranga mo taku iwi [mo] Tuwareware raaa ko Tukirikau ko motutuhawe, Batalu ta mate, ratahiteora. [Translation.] The gospel of peace that was revealed to Tuwhakararo Tutawhake, the very last man of the Taranaki tribe, as a prayer:— The prayer consists of the names of the Trinity, with the words pai marire added—the rire being merely an ahbreviatioa cf marire; it is printed as it is in the manuscript.] The loth [of September, 1862,] a day of fasting and silence, a finishing of the days spoken of at Mataiwhetu. a village of Taranaki, on the utbifcplember, 1802. The 11th was a day of putting to death —the day on which I killed my chlid as a living payment [redemption] for my people, forgetful, desolate, and in doubt. There Ims been a day for death, and and now there is a day lor life. It will be observed that in the original the forgetfulness, desolation, aud doubt, of the Maori people are personified. It may be mentioned that the word “tuhawe” is what might be called a half-cast word, the “tu” being Maori, and the “ liawe” bein g intended for the English “ half”— the notion intended to be expressed being “ an attitude of indecision,” half one way, and half the other. But the point we wish to call attention to is the wording of the first line of the document, “Ko te Rongo pai mariri i whakaxitea,” &c. The words “Rongo pai” are those used by the missionaries for the gospel, ns they signify “ good news,” “good tiding,” and “marire” (peaceful or peaceable) was probably added by Te Ua to strenghton his recomendation in. the contention he was having with the tribe on the subject of the passengers and goods from the Lord Worsley, which he was anxious should be sent into town without injury. At all events these are the words “ Kongo pai marire. ” and from these to “ Atua pai mariri” the transition in his mind would be easy enough, and the words “ pai marire,” which at first were mere adjectives, by constant repetition became a sort of invocation in which sense they are now used. It is curious as well as painful to note how from such a beginning—from the desire of a man at least half insane that certain shipwrecked people should not bo illtreated, such a barbarous system should have sprung up. This system (if that can be called a system which is the mere absence of law), as we have before remarked, met with a ready acceptance among the natives because they had felt the restrictions of Christanity without feeling its power to inspire a new life—and in one aspect it may be looked upon as a protest against the husky nature of the spiritual food they had been supplied with, which, as was only to be expected, they had utterly failed to assimilate.