A Chapter on Pai-Marire.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 343, 22 January 1866, Page 1

A Chapter on Pai-Marire.

THE NEW RELIGION OF THE MAORIS. (From Fraser’s Magazine, for October.)

Continued from our last,

When the war of 1863 broke out, Te Ua felt the necessity of having coadjutors to aid him in propogating the new faith. He chose three—Tahutahi, Hepanaia, and Wi Parana; the divine afflatus was communicated to them by inhaling the smoke from the prophet’s pipe/ The two former induced the tribe to undertake an expedition to Ahuahu, by predicting that some pakehas would be delivered into their hands; a fresh impetus was given to the new religion by the fulfilment of this prediction. Cannibalism, which is now one of its recognised rites, was first practised on this occasion by the two prophets, who licked the blood from the axes which hacl been used to cut off the dead men’s heads. Captain Lloyd’s head was cured and carried about the country for some months, till it was at length recovered by one of the native magistrates; it has subsequently transpired that it was used for pur - poses of divination. Elated by this success, and confident of victory, the natives boldly attacked the Sentry Hill Eedoubt on the 30th of April, 1864. Their policy had hitherto been to await our attacks within their fortified pas, to inflict as much loss upon us as possible and to evacuate their strongholds ■when no longer tenable; but on this occasion they marched boldly up to the redoubt, shouting and yelling. The officer in command waited till they were close on the wall and then opened fire on them with such effect that some seventy of them, including Hepanaia, were slain. The general impression at the time was that they were intoxicated. Nothing was then known of the Pai Mar ire faith ; but it is now understood that fanaticism prompted this mad act, which was so severely punished. It might have been j expected that the death of Hepanaia, and their own defeat, would have opened the eyes of the natives, and convinced them that Pai Marire was a delusion; but all history shows that fanacticism is too deeply rooted in the minds of its unfortunate victims to be eradicated by evidence, exposure, or defeat. Taranaki now became the central point from which the new faith was propagated: Te Ua, whose name was changed to Zerubbabel, was its recognized head. The great prophet as he is called, sent forth emissaries who visited every part of the island and preached the Pai Marire doctrine with a success equalled only by the rapid propagation of Christianity a quarter of a century before. Miracles were performed in such abundance, that they almost c.eased to be miracles. The feat of conjuring known at home as the bul-let-trick, was repeated in private life with immense success; but, somehow, the result was different in actual warfare ; Pai Marire bullets were subject to the will of the prophets, but pakeha bullets were beyond their control. Some years ago a similar kind of fanaticism sprang up in Algeria, and spread rapidly among the Arab tribes ; it owed its success entirely to tbe supposed miracles by which it was supported. The Governor, knowing that it could not be repressed by force, adopted a policy worthy of the serious consideration of the colonial officer. They sent for Robert Houdin, the illustrious conjuror, and instructed him with the task of undeceiving the natives by performing miracles far more wonderful than any they had hitherto witnessed. Robert, who felt his professional character at stake, entered on the scheme with alacrity, and carried it out with such complete success, that if he had any faith to propagate, the Algerians would have readily adopted it. We have a good many political conjurors here who have played many strange fantastic tricks in their time, but none were able to arrest the progress of Pai Marire; we naturally look to the mo-ther-country for aid. Why should not the Wizard of the North be pitted against the Wizard of the South ? Why should not Anderson of Convent Garden be tempted to enter tbe lists with Zerubabel of Taranaki ? We venture to say that the bultie-trick would have an immense success ; the Maori’s taste for liquor is quite as potent as his love of the marvellous. - •

When the Pai Marire preachers arrive at a native village, the love of novelty brings forth the whole population to hear them. The Maori orator then proceeds to unfold the doctrines of the new faith; in speaking, he does not stand still, or confine his action to the movement of the arras, or the working of the features; he rushes backward and forward like one possessed; waves his arms wildly in the air, and repeats again and again any idea which he wishes specially to impress upon the mind of his audience. The prosiest speaker in St. Stephen’s is brief and concise when compared with our Maori orator, the stream of whose eloquence flows on for hours without a break or a symptom of impatience on the partjff his audience; when he ceases to speak, it is only from sheer exhaustion. The missionaries have adopted this style of eloquence, which is doubtless best adapted to the natives, but has a peculiar effect when displayed within the narrow limits of a pulpit and before a, European audience. The Pai Marire dispenses with pulpits, and selects ail"ogen'space where he can run backward, and. forward without interruption. He usually begins by denouncing the pakehas, and expatiating on all the evils they have inflicted on the Maori races; he compares them to the frozen snake which the husbandman heated in his bosom till it awoke into life and stung him. The Maori people are fast dying out; the lands of their fathers are passing into the hands of strangers ; in a few years they will have no place to bury their dead. God has now interposed in their behalf ; now is the time to rise and shake off the yoke of the pakehas, What have they gained at the hands of the missionaries? Have they not acted the part of political spies, and betrayed them into the hands of their enemies? Have they not told them to look up to heaven, and while they were looking up to heaven, have they not stripped them of their lands on earth ? But the Great Ruler has at length had pity on them ; their cry has ascended to him like the cry of the Hebrews in Egypt, and he has sent Zerubhabel to be their Moses. He has endowed him with miraculous powers as the proof of his sacred mission, and those powers transferred by him to the preachers of the new faith, will be exhibited in their presence. The religion taught by the missionaries was a delusion, and a lie, fabricated for their own selfish purposes, but the eyes of the Maori people are now opened. Like the Jews of old, they have been favored with a special revelation from heaven, intended for them and for them alone. What is the use of bibles or of prayer-books ? they have been superseded by the new revelation; let them be brought forth and cast into the flames ; if they contain the words of truth, the Great Ruler will not suffer them to be burned. See how they smoke! They vanish into nothingness ; thus also shall the pakeha vanish and all his works, but the Maori shall remain for ever; his power shall know no decay. The final destouction of the world is device of the missionaries to rob them of their lands; the world will last for ever, and the chosen people shall inherit it, There is no heaven apart from this world, and no future judgment, but there will be a resurrection of the whole Maori races. In a few years the pakehas will be driven into the sea and when the last of them perished, all the Maoris who have died since the begginning of the world will leap from their graves with a shout, and stand in the presence of Zerubbabel, the Great Phrophet. They shall stand before him as they were when they died, with all their diseases and infirmities ; and then his miraculous powers shall be exhibited to the whole world. The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, the lame walk ; every disease disappear; all shall become perfect in their bodies as in their spirits. The Great Prophet has already performed such miracles on a small scale; but there will be the final manifestation of bis power. He shall rule over them for ever, and they shall be one people; no pakehas will be suffered to dwell among them save the Jews, who are sprang from the same father, inherit the same promises, and have endued the same persecutions. There shall be no harm nor death, nor judgmemt; the pakehas shall perish from the earth ; and this world transformed and beautified, shall be the everlast-

ing dwellujg-pxa.uc of the Maoris and the Jews, who shall dwell together as one people. All the rites and institutions of the pakeha religion are henceforth abolished; the marriage relation is no longer binding ; it is good for men to have two, three, or even four wives, that the Maori race may increase in numbers.

We have thus endeavoured to give a brief but faithful epitome of a Pai Marire sermon# which often extends over a whole day. At the close of the sermon, a prayer is offered up, and we give a literal translation of one which was found at Manatahi, near Wellington, “By belief in thee, 0 Ruler, all men shall be saved in the day of passing over and pouring out of blood, lest they should be touched by the destroyer, the enemy, the Governor and his soldiers. The many thousands of the skies shall close up the mouth of the enemy, the Governor. To thee, O Kuler, belongs the power to destroy his thoughts, and the sources from which they spring, and all his works. Thou, O Ruler art the heavy stone slung at the Governor, his works, and the thoughts of his heart. To thee only belongs the power to darken bis eyes, lest he should see the brightness, so that his thoughts may he troubled. By thee alone alone shall the Governor be overcome, because his deeds are evil. Be thou strong, 0 Ruler, for thy people, the men of Canaan, are a naked people, and possessed of nothing. Thou knowest it; with thee alone is' perfect knowledge. This is my earnest striving to thee, 0 Ruler, that the heart of the Governor may be drawn forth by thee, that it may be withered in the sun so as not to see any brightness, because he is the bad devil of world, the destroyer of men.” The Governor is evidently not a favorite at the court of Zerubbabel the Great, nor is he likely to meet with a friendly reception, if he appears at the final resurrection of the Maori races We are the more surprised at his having been selected as the special object of denunciation, as his Maoris proclivities are only too well known.,

When the Pai Marire orator has exhausted his lungs and his legs, ha calls a halt and proceens to initiate his proselytes into the mysteries of the new faith. He unusually begins by working a few miracles. The taming of wild cattle is a favorite operation ; the thaumaturgist pronounces aa incantation over them, and they follow him submissively to the summit of the loftiest mountains. Mesmerism is known and practised. About a year ago, a half-caste visited Sydney, where he attended some lectures on electro-biology; the exhibition of mesmeric influences, which which he then witnessed, made a deep impression on his mind, and, on his return to New Zealand, he frequently alluded to the subject in conversation. The idea was at once caught up by Te Ua and the other founders of the Pai Marire faith, who saw that mesmerism might be turned to good account in gaining adherents to their cause ; the mesmeric sleep would carry conviction to the minds of the wavering, and serve at the door of entrance to the hew religion. Experience soon taught them how difficult it was to reduce a lively race like the Maoris to a comatose state ; hence the necessity some other initiatory rite for those proseyltes who were not subject to mesmeric influences. Their object was to produce tha same effect as mesmerism, and they found that this could be done by seizing the proselyte by the hand, and whirling him round and round till he became insensible. In cases where the proselytes lytes were numerous, the whirling process occasioned too much, delay. Another step was made in advance; nius, or worshipingposts, were set up at every village visited by the Pai Marire preachers, and the inhabitants drawn round and round them till they became giddy or even unconscious. It is during this state of unconsciousness that they are supposed to receive the afflatus ; travellers have found the inhabitants of whole villages apparently in a state ofidiotcy unable to speak or move. Some of them actually become idiots; they howl like dogs, and jabber like monkeys. These bowlings and jabberings are supposed to be oraeular deliverances in unknown tongues, of which the Pai Marire priests are the sole interpreters ; it is only natural that the interpretation

should be given in favor of the speedy extinction of the pakehas, and the complete triumph of the Maori cause.

The first niu, or worshipping-post, was set up at Kaitake in the province of Taranaki. It is related that an extraordinary miracle occurred on this occasion, which may he regarded as the inauguration of the new faith. The ceremony had scarcely been completed, when a dog advanced to the pole, sniffed at it, and showed by his irreverent hearing that he had no idea of its sanctity. The moment his nose touched the sacred wood he gave an unearthly howl, the prolonged cadences of which struck terror into every heart, and fell down dead in the midst of the spectators. After this miracle poles became ala mode; a village without its niu would have been considered behind the age. They have been sent up through the interior from the east to the west coast, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of resident magistrates, they have been adopted by some of the friendly natives, who are still nominally Christians. A quarter of a century ago it was de rigueur that every tribe should have its missionary; the times are now changed; the niu has supplanted him. When the Pai Marire converts are recovered from their state of unconsciousness they are taught to practice the grossest immorality; and Christian churches are often polluted by their foul orgies. The object of the priests in sancting this gross licentiousness is doubtless to increase their numbers, and to break for ever with Christianity and its teachers. For the same reason cannibalism has been revived; the tasting of human blood is one of the most solemn Pai Marire rites; one of the priests is known to have swallowed the eyes of his victims. The - cooked heads of murdered soldiers are carried about for purposet of divination ; at the command of the Tiu, or priest, they speak. This kind of deception is easily practised, as the priests are adepts in ventriloquism. (To bo continued.)