My Maori Friends.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 70, 28 August 1851, Page 2

My Maori Friends.

I now, for the first time, write a letter to you —to be printed in the " Maori Messenger" — about those great fensts with which you have been of old accustomed to entertain each other. I wish to point out lo you the liiirui they do, and the grea I inconvenience of this mode of entertainment, both to the guests anil the givers of l/ic feast. You are now commencing lo ilro|>, one by one, your nucinit usages, which you have found to rctnnl your advancement, but you h.ive not begun lo give up those feasts, becatisi: you follow the custom of your forefathers without considering the great change which has taken place in your condition si nee their time. Is ihero no greater undertaking by which a chief can raise l>is name limit by outdoing his neighbours in waste of food at a fea<t r Now, I think there is. The givers of great feasts will soon be firgotlfii, but the Chief at R.ingiaowhin, who first built > mill nnd who now s?lls his fluiir at Auckland, by which his people are becoming rich, will be remembered by future generations as the first wise man amongst the Maorics. In your Ibiiiicr state, time and labour were not ol so much consequence an they lire now, because there existed no iMirnpeans in the land to buy your produce. You were thru induced lo give your feasts for the purpose of keeping up a connexion between tribes friendly to ench other, for protection against a common enemy ; but now ihe whole country is at pence, anil nobody- need be scheming to form a large party for his own protection. Time is 'money in the present day, and if you waste all your time in attending feasts and giving them in return you will always remain poor. When one tribe proposes giiing a feast lo another they are completely unsettled lor six months or more in making preparations, every nerve is strained to procure a lavish quantity of food for the visitors; the common industrial occupations of the tribe are suspended ; no fl.ix is scraped; labour for Europeans is given up; notliing'is raised from Ihe ground for sale ; your pigs, which when sold ordinarily furnish you with the means to buy blanket", are reserved to be killed at the (east, During all these preparations you are cold and hall clad and often hungry. Many a man's mouth waters after the danties thus kept in store, but they mint not be touched until the appointed lime, because they are fond of which the fame has gone abroad. Another evil is this—many of the trilie have contracted debts with the Kuropeans ; they cannot work to pay them, because they nrc getting a feast ready. The Maori may think this a valid excuse, but

the European attributes ihe delay so occasioned to dishonesty. At length the time arrives -.—it is generally in winter, nftcr the crops have been hou«ed. Mi spencers arc sent to invite and accompany the tiihes lo the feast, who, previously to lliis, have been in a state of cxpei talion for weeks, completely unsettled. They are idle durum this time, heca-se lliey do not know the moment they will have to start. At la-t thev pioceed. They may have 100 miles or more to travel in the rain and (hioils. At rveiy place they stop nt, both going and returning home, they" devour all the provisions like a swnrm of locu-ts- lor they sometimes muster thousands— having (he people of the phice famished until the enduing nop is tip.-; tinky are they should their seed potatoes and corn he .saved. During the lest of the yrar these i„Jn cannot work ; liny have to hint about I?, food: wlit they had ill stun* liming heen consumed. Those viands arc in reality not given freely, although they may appear lo he so. I will relate nn instance lo prove Ihe truth of this nss' rtion : a visit which I once had occa-ion to muke to a sninll settlement on one of tinrivers near Auckland, news arrived thai n large hndy of natives were coming up on their way to a feast in the iiuciiur. The people of the place, who were very poor, immediately filled one of llicir largest eauocs with pigs and started for Ihe Town, hoping to escape heing oblige.l to put theai in the oven for these unwelcome guests. Hut ihey were not so fortunate as to attain their object: ut the month of the river they met, to their dismay, these wayfarers in full force. The im-ii with the pigs were ashamed to pass on. and h-d reluctantly to re'urn and slay them lor these hungry visitors, with a smiling face, while in tin ir henrls thev wished they had taken another route. When all have assembled the least crmmence'. Killing is the ori'er of the day, and of the night loo; many people become ill through surfeiting ; quarrels occasionally take place about the ilistribution of ll.e feed ; quantities of provisions are wasted, which, il told, would furnish money sufficient to purchase in.n.y useful thing-*. Intrigues are also carried on at these feasts by the young men, careless of tin ir consequences; jealousy ensues. When the tiihes return, anil matters which have recurred »t the feast are divuljcd, Tiiua parties are rushing about from one set'lenient In another, to o.hiain ■interaction for their injured r< latins. These affairs usually result in a general spoliation of property, belonging to t' e inno'cut as well as the guilty, mid sometimes in bloodshed ; lor Solomon "says, "Jealousy is ihe rag? of ii man, aii'l he spnrelh u-t in the day of vengeance." A war verv nearly took place in this manner not long ago ■- so that instead of c incniing these tribes in tloser friendship, the feast was productive of exactly opposite results. One life was sicrificed in this affair. The tribes who gave the feast, are left to subsist on manuka and fern-rool until the following year's crop is lit fnr use ; and their guests feel themselves bound to give a feist in return, out-rivalling the one given to them in prodigality, and entailing similar evils on themselves; so that in f..C, the evils of this system uevtr end. * Now, would it not be much better for each of your families to invite their friend* to come and visit them —a fjw at a time —when you eouhl entertain them without bringing these serious trouble* on the whole community. The time occupi-d by each family in gelling a feast ready, would, if properly employ e-l, lurn s'i them with means sufficient io buy a horse nnil plough. 'lliey might 'ben cultivate a great quantity of produce: si that "hen their friemls came they could entertain them wilhout siilleiing themselves for it afterwards. The maxim with us Europeans is, lo wink first, and when we have worked for a long time ami got plenty of money, we feast our friends without stinting ourselves. If "e began by wasting our lime in such displays of hospitality, we should always remain poor, and ne\er be a great and rich people «s wo are.— l-'lltlM YOUR I ; hii;n'o. 11. Auckland, August 28, 1851.