THE MAORI MUMMIES THAT LIVE.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 386, 26 August 1884, Page 5

THE MAORI MUMMIES THAT LIVE.

A correspondent.' writing; from New Zealand to the ' Town and Country Journal,' gives an: atuusitfg account .... oft] a hoax 'recently perpetrated by 'some -Maoris. Hu fays : " While I w«ts at Rotorua, the workmen employed at Sulphur Point discovered the remains of a, number pt Maoris in one of the caves of that place. The bja^es were in a,good state, of preservation,and, were inspected by large numbeis of residents aild v isitors: This attracted^ the 'attention of the Maoris at Whakarewerevr e, who, anxious to J earn an honest penny, speedily discovered another cave, this time in their Own neighborhood, well stocked, as represented, with M.ioii mummies in splendid 'preservation.' Wach visitor had to fork out a shilling before being shown the newly found relics, which were solemnly declared to have been deposited in the sulphur eaves in a live state hundreds of years previously. Such was the amount of excitement occasioned by the discovery that 1 gladly accompanied a party of ladies, and gextlemfin who bad arranged to visii the marvellous caves. We were met on the way by Paddy, a well-known Maori, who speaks English With tolerable fluency, and a good deal more, as we subsequently discovered. On making known the nature of our errand, be made some demur, and had a confab^yith William, a brother native, commonly known —sarcastically, perhaps— as Sweet William. At the close of the palaver, Paddy informed us that it was of no use our going up to the caves just then. On askifrg him the reason he replied that the Maoris did not like ss many pakehas going in at one time, but that it each visitor paid three ' bob"" the dim* culty would be overcome. While, this was going on, Sweet William had disappeared behind the native houses, and with him "a number of Maoris who had been listening with uuusual earnestness to the conversation, The stipulated amount of toll h-iving been duly collected by Pa«kly, we made a , start. As I passed through the plf.ee I missed many of the Maori faces with which I was familiar, a circumstance which naturally excited my curiosity, and indued me to mention it to a. friend, who .formed one of the party. The path took us past a famous geyser, which was in full play, sending forth streams of scalding water to the height off • 40£t ; past any number of blue, black, aad. white boiling springs ; the 'Jcvil's Hole and many other natural wonders ; said after continui g our winding course about a mile, the way became very rugged and much broken by watercourses, which had to ba crossed and recrossed, until we arrived close to the water* of the creek into which they emptied their content?. It was a mogt wearisome journey, and we. had times to wade through the water 'and push aside the overhanging branches which im* pededour way. At last Paddy made a halt, arid exacted from us a promise not to reveal the locality of the cave, or re-visit it without a native fjuidc. This done, Paddy pulled away a quantity :of bush and 1 disclosed the mouth of a cave, small at the entr^ttM ; and the ground rising upwards from th<F&ige of the creek. As we entered the interior > became so dark that the torches >\ hich hud been provided had to be lighted. As soon as our eyes became reconciled to the ' semiobscurity we began to .look about us, and there, sure enough, were a lot of mummies stretched at full length in different parts of the cav'ei •We were considerably impressed / by the strange spectacle, and my -Mend asked Paddy how long the mummies were supposed to have been in the cave ? ' 1800 years, I should think,'' was the reply. ' But, it is only 100 years since Captain Cook landed here,' persisted my f r iend ! Well, what. about Captain Cook?' enquired the native. 'Only this,' said my iuquisitive friend, 'I want to know where these mummies got them English blankets from.' It was a fact. The whole of the mummies were closely wrapped up in blankets, The equanimity of Paddy was not in the least disturbed. * Pakeha wants to know too much,' he,said 'Mummies got blankets from old Major Cook, captain's father.' ' Well.,' said my friend, 'will you. tell me whether these mummies are in the habit of smoking V ' Why?' asked Paddy.' • Because the smell of tobacco was uncommonly strong as we entered the cave,' ' No,' replied Paddy, 'it was the sulphur, not. tobacco.' This seemed a fair explanation, for there were a number of sulphur holes intfee" — floor, which made it dangerous to walk about without tho aid of a guide. ' Well,' aaid my friend, ' if you have no objection I will have a smoke, as I detest the fumes of ■ sulphur.' As the ladies of the party made no demur, my friend at once lit his pipe. This done he dropped the lighted match, as if bj accident, into the ear of one of the largest of the mummies. Ihe effect was electrical. With a yell loud enough to have awakened the Seven Sleepers, the supposed mammy jumped up.made a bolt for the cave entrance, where, dropping his blanket and swearing horribly in Maori-English, he disappeared. In the alarm occasioned by this unexpected incident Paddy dropped his torch and' slipped into one of ihe bubbling springs, of which there were two or three in the cave, about Bft deep, and with perpendicular sides. The ladies screamed and the men roared as the whole of the supposed mummies jumped to their feet and followed the exaw pie of him with the scorched car. All this time Paddy was yelling with pain, and if we had not pulled nim out of the spring he would 'have been boiled to death. As it was, we deemed him sufficiently punished for his knavery ; and leaving him to cool on the floor, (ye groped our way to the entrance, reaching the village without the assistance of a guide, and fully impressed that the Maori is no novice at barnuraism.