PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 572, 28 April 1858, Page 4

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

We have lyittg on our tabln a work compiled by Sir George Grey, late Governor, -of tliis .-colony and now Governor of-the Cape of Good -Hope, being1 a-selection of aph.msuis and senvtences in common use among' the Maoris, very -.much of-,the siunc kind as our own proverbs. Sir George Grey »-aye his attention so closely tto thVlnibits nnd'lengu.'ige of the aborigines of tth'ese idlunds, and had so many opportunities ■for investigating--these points which .are hidden rfi-nm an ordiuarv observfir, ;that we take for

granted the completeness and accuracy of his work. In this part of the colony we are, fortunately perhaps, not in a position io criticise from our own knowledge; indeed the contents of the book must be perfectly novel to most of our readers though treating of the people among whom we are supposed to be living. We must leave it therefore for our northern contemporaries to say whether Sir George's compilation^ represents "faifchfully^he spirit of this portion of Maori literature. Of the interest of the work there can be no doubt. Its contents are evidence that the New Zealander thinks as correctly and to the. same purpose on ordinary topics as a European j indeed man}' of the proverbs quoted are exact matches for well-known sayings in the English tongue, while many, of course, are peculiar. Terseness, and an adaptation, generally humurous, to the phenomena of life are characteristics as well developed in these as in those. A great portion of the sayings are in the form of badinage, and relate to lazy men, gluttons, and cowards; in fact in parts the book reads like a compendium of 'chaff to be used against those who offend in these points which are of course most serious in the Maori criminal law. "We must let the book speak for itself, and for this purpsse we select a portion from the preface in which the compiler explains the difficulties of the task he has undertaken.^ Sir George gives a narrative by way of explaining the origin of some proverbs current at the present day. As an instance of the manner in which a single sentence is sometimes extracted from a fable, and becomes a proverb, I would quote the. following one:— E ngari tena te tutanga te unuhia, Which means.-— Ah, that is better, the joint will not be pulled apart, or, there will be no separations. j The following is the fable from which it is derived:— There was an old man who had an only child, —a daughter,—an unmarried girl; very pretty too, and, withal, a smart, clever little maid. One day her father said to her: "My dear, your husband shall be So-and-so; he has good kumera gardens; then we shall have plenty of sweet potatoes to eat." When the little maid heard her father talking in this way, she laughed quite heartily, and said to him: " Oh, papa, kumera gardens can only be cultivated in seasons when the whole country is at peace; we should want food at other times." Then her father said to her: " Well, then, your husband shall "be So-and-so; he has several good eel preserves, and we shall have plenty of eels to eat." . This time the little maid could not draw her breath for laughing, and said to her father: " Oh, papa, eels are only caught in seasons of flood; at other times we should often want food." Then her father said to her: " Well, then, your husband shall "be So-and-so jhe has good fishing grounds, and we shall have plenty of fish to eat." The little maid, who was sitting on the ground, rolled'right over with laughing, when she heard her father talking in this wayrantf"sTie™s"aT<lr " Oh, papa, people can only go fishing in calm weathex-»JKeLshoiild have no food at other times." So her father said to her: " Well, then, my dear, your husband shall be So-and-so; he's a good, strong, industrious fellow, and we shaU, at least, have plenty-of fern root to eat." • .--■--■■ Now it was all right; the little mail jumped up at once, and said: " Ah, that's better, for there will be no intervals between our supplies of food, during which we should have nothing to eat^" (Ac, c ngari tena, te tutanga te unuhia.) Our next extract is from the end of the book, and speaks for itself. It is entitled THE PEOVEHBS OF TE PAKI. The following treatise on New Zealand proverbs was drawn up in the native language in January and February, 1849, by a native, from the dictation of Te Paki, the chief of the Ngaungau tribe, and formerly high priest of the Waikato tribes. Sir G. Grey gives the following translation: — Now, if a party of travellers should be walking along one of the foot-paths which, in our country, lead from village to village, and another party should be travelling along the same track, but ahead of them, then this is the saying for the party in front, which should be repeated by the party in the rear, —" That is right, go in front, and you shall possess f Heretaunga." (Haere i mua, mou Heretaunga.) Then, very shortly (from the influence of those words), the party in ! front will be passed by the party in rear, so that j those who were in the rear will be in front. Exactly, in the same manner, the saying for | sweet potatoes, which you would have very early dag up, and put in the nit to keep, is " Keep in front, in advance of the season of the planet Jupiter." (Haere i mua i te aroaroa o Atutahi.) For, if they are not fit to dig until after the season called Atutahi, then the mid-harvest is overtaken by frosts, and for such an event as this latter one, the saying is,—" In the season -of Takurua, large drops hang from the nose." (Ko Takurua hupe nui.l) For that is the time of constant rains and of frequent frosts; that season is, indeed, one of damp and cold. It may be likened to an old dame (who, from constantly sitting over the fire in one of our low smoky houses which have no chimney, and only a sliding door and window, has sore eyes), so that water is continually running- from "her red in flamed eyes, and drops falling from her nose. Now (if any one reproaches her with this) this is exactly what she says.—" Never mmci! when man is passing forward it is sr>, that his old eyes ever water." (He oi ano ta te taugata a haere ake ana, he harahara wai nga kanoki.") She

,f This may mean either that those who were in front will conquer the district of Heretaunga, or that they will kill, carry oii', ar.-l eat some great chief oi' that name. It probably means the latter, and hence would be a sort of curse or saying which would bring them ill luck from the power of .the spirit of the chief Heretaunga.

knows she is drawing near to death, therefore it is she said "is passing forward," for who can turn back again to reach death. For a man who is drawing "near his end, this is his proverb,— ! "Let these few days be for me, for the sun which is sinking towards the horizon, for the falling | tree which will soon be swept away by the floods." (Moku auo enci ra, mo te ra ka hekeheke. he rakau ka liinga kite inano wai.) That is, be kind to me .the aged one; I shall not trouble yon long. jSTow, if a party of chiefs and great men are about to start upon a journey, and the common people and slaves say,—"Let us all go with them, that we, too, may come in for a share of the feasts that will be given wherever they go, so that we may eat exceedingly nice things, such as potted birds and rats, and the kernels of the hinau berries;" then this is the saying that should be used by the great people of that travelling party, —"That is right, travel behind the back, or follow the powerful chief Wapuku, if you want to eat all the nicest things which are to be found under the heavens." (Haere i muri i te te tou o te Wapuku, kia kai koe I te kai whakairo o te rangi.) Xow, when that travelling party reach their home again, and they all meet together, and when the people of the village say to them, — " Come, let us hear what you have to tell us;" then the men of the travelling party answer them with this proverb,—"".What did-.you stay at home for? will your buttocks give you food as a reward for sitting on them? We thought that to get good food, you should follow a shoal of sperm whales." (That simile is for the chiefs.) When, then, the men of the village see from the appearance of the travellers that plenty of food has indeed been cooked for that travelling party, they answer with the proverb,—" When his lordship travels, a feast is ordered," (He tira, paraoa, he kai te whakahaua.) ; Now this is a proverb for a mighty man, — " His might is that of Karewa." If, also, a chief and his tribe are so strong that they are never anxious about their village, but leave everything ; about it in a careless state, and quite exposed, | then, also, this is the saying of that chief,— "My might is that of Karewa." Karewa was that chief who made this proverb for the fortress of his brother-in-law, of Taraao, —"The realms of death have high fences round them, the realms of life are unfenced, or have but low fences round them." (Titike po, papaku ao.) By this saying he sneered at the high fences round the fortress in which his brother-in-law had shut himself, and about which their battles were going, on. This, now, is the proverb for food which has not been thoroughly cooked. Te Hikaka said, — " CooTc it thoroughly." (Maoa tonu.) Kapua said,^" Underdone meat is your own, wellcooked meat often becomes another's." (Hua at-u, kai mate whiwhia, maoa, riro ke.) He who uses this proverb, means by it that he who does not eat his food as soon as ever he can, may be surprised by a war party coming along, or by strangers and visitors, and his food may go to them, so that he may not eat it. This, is a proverb applicable to a country where food is scarce. If a person is there seen peeling his sweet potatoes, and throwing the peel away, then somebody who is very careful that food should not be wasted, says to him, — "-Oh.,..jf'._xou.. wa_nl to pool your potatoes, you should go to Rauwaru, and peel them there." (Ac haere ki runga o Rauwaru horehore ai.) He says this because Rauwaru is a place -where-food-is very abundant. If a man should feel himself growing weak and faint for want of food, then he says,—" Oh, abundance of fnod--.T-kicir .r-irarvTs-iersrTjrariiro:-me-at Pamamaku —would that, like a man, you had legs, so that you could now run after me." When one is fainting for want of food, then it is that this proverb is used; it is a venting of grief for want of food. But this is a venting of grief when suffering from great cold, —" Oh, poor skin of mine, that enjoyed so the bright matai wood fires at Tapuiropa." ; Yes, this is the manner in which you would give vent to your sufferings when cut by biting winds sweeping along the earth, or by keen blasts rushing down from the skies, so that your very teeth ache from the searching keenness of the cold. In our old custom (we having no money) if a man. made a present, he always expected to receive another of equal value in return, so that we bartered, as it were, our property one with the other. Now, if a man acquired many valuable things, but got these without giving anything in exchange for them, avariciously collecting them together, we had this proverb for such a fellow as that, —" The wandering legs of Tokoahu, which were here, there, and everywhere. (Nga waewae haererere o Tokoahu, kei tua, kei tua.) For this Tokoahu was a man, who was continually travelling from place to place, getting presents made him, for which he gave no return. He was a covetous rogue—the way in which, he got possession of property ~as not fair. He never gave anything in return for it. His friend, who had given him something valuable, used to go on waiting, waiting, waiting, expecting something, but in vain—he never got anything in return; and he used at last to say, —" My property has been as good as stolen by that jascal." One man, whom Tokoahu served in this way, was at last so provoked with the rogue, that he cried aloud: '■ Oh heaven look down and see my wrong, Oh earth look up and sec my wrong." (E Eangi c, titiro.iho, X Fapa c. titiro ake.) And he added; " My valuables; Oh my valuables! Cuine, come, oh my valuables, Destroy this ft-Uow for me, Oh :rty valuables." (Te laonga; E, te taonga! Nan ra c te taonga, E kai ra koe i au, Etc taonga.) After he had thus cursed, that covetous fellow died from the effects of the curse, which he had cried aloud thoughtlessly, saying " Come, | <'<>mQ f.h my valuables, and destroy this fellow I for me." We have ever since called that curse a kai-hau. : Now an idle rogue we speak of thus: A fellow

of that kind is always lounging from village to village; to Mauugatautari, or to this place, or that place, living on strangers. So this, is the proverb for him, —"Ever wandering for food, wandering for food, here are you and your hungry self come back to us again." Now if this fellow should come back to the farm of his own family and friends, at a time they are very much pinched for food, they do not refrain from saying this proverb to him, — " Another person's food is what a man gets so little of, that even after his meal, his hungry throat longs for more; but food which his own hands have worked for, he eats plenty of, and fills his belly." (He kai tangata he kai titoi kaki, ka pa ano ko tana kai, tino kai, tino makona.) Or, for any fellow who is always lounging from place to place, and won't work, in my judgment' this is a pithy proverb,-—" Food earned by the labour of a man's own hands, is what he may eat .his fill of." The old chiefs of a village don't hesitate to' tell a lazy idle fellow, that he is like a dog which is always lying in the ashes of the fire, and singeing its tail, and that a dog of that kind is sure to be a lazy beast, which never catches game for itself; so that there is this proverb for a lazy man, —"You will singe, your tail." ,(He •hiora tahu tahu.) Now if a man eats a great deal, and is not soon satisfied, we have this saying,—" A pigeon can bolt big lumps, and a duck gobbles up mud." (He kuku tanga-engae nui, he parera apu paru.) But if a man eats slowly and delicately, then we say,—"A parrot nibbles its food." (He kaka kai honihoni.) Or, if he can eat but little food, we say,—" He is a descendant of Tahau-manawa-iti;" who was not a great eater. If now a hospitable man should say to his relations and friends who are living on. the same farm with him, that they ought to invite a large party of strangers, who are travelling, to stop with them, and when they consent, and he entertains the strangers well, then his own people grumble and murmur at him, on account of the food that the travellers consume, he naturally feels quite ashamed that his own friends should act and speak thus, and he uses"this proverb to them,—" If you threw a spear of wood at me, I could parry it, but I cannot parry the spear of a bitter word." This saying of his is one which should cause excessive shame, for by the spear of a bitter word, he means their grumbling against him. When we eat our meals, we sit outside the house, on the ground, in a circle, and each man has his own share of food placed before him in a little basket freshly woven from green flax leaves. Now if a man is a greedy fellow, and is not easily satisfied, but hurrying through his own basket of food, then goes round the circle, taking a little from the basket of each of his neighbours, this is the proverb we use for that man,—'' "Well done, oh Awhato grub, that nibbles round the edges of leaves;" (Kamahi te awhato hohonu paenga;).for the awhato is a grub which lives on the leaves of the kumara, or sweet potatoe,-and always nibbles away the edges of the leaves, fight round, not touching the centre. ■. This saying is for a dead man; for then one of the watchers of the corpse says to the child of the dead, in order that it may cry constantly for its parent, without ever ceasing,—"If, now, your father had been a house, and had fallen down, we could have built it up again, and it • wpma^ave^ee^nTnrrrglit7~br, if he had been the moon which had waxed old and died out, then the new moon would have appeared in its season " r>c p '—flJco'- *■"*""" i'i'"^^ irj";:~*'jOii, "would t&ajf ne had aiea ime the old moon." (Tiemare itemarama!) Now this saying,—" Oh his ugliness -is only the ugliness of Auripo,"—is used for a chief, but for one who is very ugly as to his face; so ugly that if a mean person had been so ugly, no young •woman would have looked at him, or have had anything to say to him; but his ugliness does not matter in his case, for it is the ugliness of a man who is a great chief. Therefore, indeed, we make use of this saying,—" Oh, never mind his ugliness,—'tis that of Auripo." (He kino na te Auripo.) We should apply this expression to a house, — "This is Tane (the god of the forests) heaped up." (Ko Tane pupuke.) This expresses the i reeds that are bound together, to form the walls !of the house, and the thatch, the poles, and the j battens. Now this saying, in the same manner, expresses a canoe, —" This is Tane (the god of the forests) fallen off;" (Ko Tane horo,) for thus is signified the chips which have fallen off in adzing the canoe and dubbing it out. Nevertheless,- —" This is Tane heaped up," is equally used to express a canoe, for this signifies the side boards, the pieces of wood which cover the joints of the side boards, and the other things which are added on to the canoe. If there is a village, the inhabitants of which have very speedily consumed their crops, constantly eating them rapidly, constantly making rapidly away with them, this is the saying for such a village,—"The people of TePuku have long since ate all their wild turnips, but the people of Ouwe'a are still eating their old crops; they have been careful of them, —not eating them hurriedly." This proverb is for a country which contains no stones fit to heat in the fire, in order that when red hot they may be put into the oven to cook our food,—" Why, this is Tireki, which contains nothing worth having:" for if travellers or armies from distant parts had to go to Tireki, they were obliged to carry even stones with them to cook their food. Hence came this proverb,—" Why this is Tireki, which contains nothing worth having." Now for a wretchedly lean man we have this proverb,—" Oh, he's off to Orutai." Probably Orutai was a country which produced but little food, for this proverb was equally used for a very lean man, —for a very lean beast, —for a very lean bird, —for all very lean things of every kind, no other proverb is used than,—" Oh, this iB Orutai." If, now, a man should be seen eating other people's leavings, and very dirty things, then this is the proverb used for such a fellow, — "Hand them here for the dust-hole." (Ilomai ma te tahalaha ma te pari.) This saying is used because such things as he is eating would either

be swept out of the court-yard after every one had done their meal, or would have been thrown away. If a man should not be strong enough to raise heavy weights, this is a proverb for him,-r^"Ah, he's about as strong as a rat; his grasp<is that of a feeble hand ;"■ (He uaua kiore;) for if the grip had been that of a mighty hand, it wouldhave grown firmer and firnier, and would not have been loosened from its hold; but as for the grasp of a feeble hand, what strength or good is there in that? This is a corresponding proverb for a man feeble in battle; for what he does.is to break and fly; he turns not against his foe to fight him; so this is the proverb for him, —"The soft pulp of the tawa berry is easily broken." (Hetawapara, he wati noa.) Such a fellow dreads an uplifted battle-axe, lest.he should be slain. Now,: just as we have that proverb for a cowardly fellow, we have this one for a warrior, jwhoipersists* stoutly in fighting against his enemy,-^" Well done, oh hard^stone of the tawa berry j" (Kamahite tawa uho;) for the ranks : of, the enemy are by warriors who arc themselves hard to'break as is the hard stone of the tai^a berry. : If a man should be known to tell many falsehoods, we just observe that^-'*He who talks till he sputters, is sure to tell : some ■ lies." ; (He parakiwaha. He hawate:w.ate. He titotito.) If a man^ should be too fond of going to war, we say,—"The warrior often gets but the wanderer's scanty pittance; the husbandman eats the industrious man's full and hearty meal." When one of the people on a farm will, neither fight bravely to defend his house against enemies, or do his fair share of the common work, we say at meal times, so ■ that he (Jan overhear us, —"It is but a waste of out victuals to give them to pot-bellied Wata-iwi;" or, we observe to him, —"Why, to judge from the strength of your . throat, you seem as strong :as the god Uenuku" (the god of war.); or" Why, i surely, the god Eongomai (the god. of vegetable food) must be in your gullet,"—or some other contemptuous speech of the kind.