ANCIENT MAORI LORE

Hokitika Guardian, 25 July 1925, Page 4

ANCIENT MAORI LORE

PR i> KEY ATION IN THE RAFT. The Maori method of handing down tribal narratives and genealogical tables from one generation to another was described by Dr R. 11. Burk, in a lecture ol absorbing interesl at tlm Leys Institute, Auckland, on Tuesday. Dr lluek explained that the lecture was a continuation of the address given bv him hist week on the historical Maori canoe connected with the great llauaiiki tnigralieii ol 13.30 A.I). Ihe North anil South Island ol New /calami thus became peopled with voyager-., w}io took up definite districts, and whose hi.-torLal narrative all dated ironi the period ol the migration. Ti, • \ arums tribes took the names from some ancestor, usually one who had Iliad'.; himself famous in lie history of tlm I nitniry. Other tribes, again, took their names lrom some oustaitdiug incident, as for instance, the Aupnuris. who, while executing a masterly retirement in the course o! a tribal war, employed what would nowadays !>•> termed a smoke-barrage, to conceal their movements, thus winning the name, ” a dark smoko.” The passing down of ancestral lore, genealogies, ritual and incantations, from one generation to another, cimliuuod Dr Rock, was an extremely thorough ami specialised lortu ol instruction, given in schools ot learning that were on the sane level as the universities of the piv-onl day. Ihe vounger men were taught by real professors. men steeped in the lore ol the people. Only the sons ol chiels could outer these schools, birth (putlilieation conferring the sole right ol entry. Tribal history and lore was thus passed on from generation to generation, lull tribal narrative was handed on from lather to son, at meteings, tangis and feasts, and by these constant references, the son. in turn, was enabled to pass on the knowledge thus gained. Genealogy was carefully taught right back to the ancestors of the eanue period. and even farther back, also the victories, tribal fights anti incidents in connection with the various people whose names occurred in the genealogical tables. There was stiil a great deal of past history to be collected and tabulated, and it was important that full advantage should lie taken of opportunities ihat would pa-'s away forever with the death ol the older generation of .Maoris. ••I understand the Government is taking action in the direction of getting the record of many place names, but it is not only the names that mallei ” said Dr Buck. '.Many places nr. rich in historical interest, and there are traditions and narratives connected witli incidents Unit took place there once upon a lime whirl) we should make every elfort to obtain and preserve be fere it is too late. Me have here a vast field for future generations of New Zealanders, white and brown, a wonderful scope for the literary man. for the poet, the painter, the sculptor, fn New Zealand’* local history we have a field which would bear rich fruit if our younger people were to study it. and b.v so doing, create a national and peculiar art of our own. I In the course of his address. Dr Buck related many incidents of dranij alie interest concerned with various phases of Maori history and tradition, each ot which played its part in building up the tribal records.