THE ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND:

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 3, Issue 72, 25 September 1851, Page 3

THE ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND:

Two Lectures delivered by the Rev. Thos Buddle, Westeyan Minister, at the Auckland Mechanics' Institute, on the evenings of the 25th March, and 12th May, 1851. LECTURE I. It appears their Hades lias a Kainga Pai, am! Kainga Kino, a place of happiness iuul a plnco of misery. They say their friend return and whistle to them, to whom they reply, saying, Ko Koe tena ? " is that n you ?*' He Kainga pehca tou Kainga ? " Wl.at sort of a place have you got ?" Some reply " It is a vile place, we have constant war, and nothing hut dung to eat.'' Others reply, " It is n fine place, we have plenty of ljuineras, and plenty of birds." When one of the first Missionaries had been preaching the scriptural- doctrine of two eternal slates, ail old man began to protest against it with great vehemence, de-

daring he should not go to heaven, nor would lie go to hell and have nothing but fire to eat > but he would go into the Rcinga to eat kumeras with his friends who had gone before him. The following Laments ore illustrative of their views of the spiritual world—they have b( en translated and kindly furnished by Mr. O O. Davis. i. The evening star* is waning. It disappears To rise in brighter skies, Where thousands wait to greet it. All that ia gTeat ami beautiful I heed not now; Thou wert my only treasure. My daughter. "When the sun-beams played upon the waters, Or through the waring palm, We loved to watch thy gambols On the sandy shores of Awapoka. Oft at the dawn of day, Thou girdest on thy garments, And with the daughters of thy people, Jlurried forth to see the fruits of Mawef gathered io. Whilst the maidens of Tikarot In quest of the rock-sleeping muscle. Braved the surges, and in turn Entrapped thopo stragglers of tbe finny tribe, That linger near the shore to feast awhile. When the tribes assembled To partake tbe evening meal, Thy fond companions gathered round thee, Knch eager to bestow some dainty. And await thy smile. Whe»ftnow? Oh! Where now 1 Ye tides that flow and ebb, No longer may ye flow and ebb, Your support is borne away. The people still assemble At their feast of pleasure, " Tbe canoe still cuts the wind in twain. And scatters the sea foam; Still the sea birds, like a cloud, Darken the sky, hovering o'er the cragi, But the loved one come 9 not; Nor even a lock of tby waving hair Was left us, o'er which to weep. Behold the lightning's glare I I tseems to cut asunder Tuwhara's rugged mountains. From thy hand the weapon dropped ; And thy bright spirit disappeared Beyond the heights of Raukawa. The aun grows dim and hastes away, As a woman from the scene of battle. The tides of the ocean weep as they ebb and flow, And the mountains of the South melt away; I For the spirit of tbe Chieftain Is faking its flight to Rona.Jj I Open ye tbe gates of the heavens 1 Enter the flrst heaven, then enter the second heaven. And when thou fbalt travel the land of spirits* And they Bhall say to thee " What meaneth this! Say, the wings of this our world Have been torn from it, in the death of the brave one-" The leader of our battles. Atutahi and the stars of the morning T.ook down from the sky,— I The earth reels to and fro, I For the great prop of the tribes lies low. \h ! my friend, the dews of Hokianga Vill penetrate thy body. he waters of the rivers will ebb out, nd .the laad be desolate. They have many curious susperstitions about the spiritual world. The following song is ,aid to have been composed by a spirit from the other world. She was one of two wives, and died childless, but by and by returned and stole the child of a more favoured wife. The mother of the missing child, greatly distressed, applied to the priest, who enpaged to induce the spirit to bring it back again. When he had performed his incantations, the spirit kidnapper was seen on the top of the house nursing t' e child, and sinping the following plaintive poetry. The translation was kindly furnished me by Mr Davis. «oxo or hie srimr wim* nuhsiko a child. Ijnm pinrced by tbe wintry blast, My body is slender and wan ; I weave not—my weaving is past, And all my warm garments oro gone.

Full oft to fair Arikirau* All lonely I postal my way To gather tne flax leaf—but now, My mombers refuse to obey. 'Twas thoughtless of thee to conae here,f With nought but thy paddle in hand Some power must have silenced that fear Ever felt in approaching this laud. Ngabue,} metbinks it was theo I beheld on the dark distant Isle; And fain would I hasten to see, And sit by thy side for a while. As the kelp of the sea is uptorn, lly the high swelling tide, from its bed; So o*«r the wide waters I'm borno And cast on the shore as one dead. Anon I am lash'd by the surge That beats on dread llingarae's|] reef Sosacred—but soon I'll emerge, And triumph o'er dunger and grief. O come ye soft airs from the plain, Where Hinerau& fans the fair trees ; And waft my fond spirit again, Where the lor'd ones are dwelling at ease. To linger awhile, or to roam, Where once I was youthful and gay, Would draw off my heart from its home j O then let me hasten away. Let me hasten to Hiwawe's** vales, Where the hosts of the mighty ones tread ; Where they fly on the sweet-scented gales, Far, far from the tombs of the dead. Great llangi,tt thou comest for me; Ah, haste thy kind message to tell; Again my bright home I shall see. Then mortals and death—fare yc well. What a dark and cheerless system is Paganism ! It create* a thousand fears in life, which it cannot relieve in death, and sends the spirit into eternity without a hope that hath foundation. In the case of the New Zealander it has given place to a religion that brings life and immortality to light. The Maori Priesthood. The existence of a eeperate class of men, exclusively devoted to the service of the gods and entrusted with all religious matters, is dis, coverable among all nations* In the earliest ages the head of the family conducted religious services and ottered their sacrifices. This was the CAse with all the descendants of Abraham rill the giving of the Law. Among other nations, certain persons were selected and formerly appointed to this office. The occasion 0 f this, and the manner of its institution, are subjects veiled in great obseurity. We know there was a regular order of priests in Egypt before the limn of Joseph. The Mngi of Persia, and the Priests of Greece existed *n very remote antiquity. The ancient Britons had their Druids, who were the authorised priests, teachers, and law-givers of their countrymen.

• The deceased person ia nildressed 09 tbo evening mar, which is supposed lo rise in another world, the inhabitants of which world recognise their relation in the star, and hail its arrival among them with great delight. t KruiU of Mawe—the kumera. t Tikaro—nnmo of a tribe at Hokianga. II The following is tlio I.egcnd of Rons. One bright moonlight night Rona was sent to fetch some water from aft ream ; in her hand was a basket, which contained a gourd. Oil her way to the water the moon suddenly disappeared behind a cloud, and the road btjng bad. she kicked her foot against some of the shrnbs. This made her angry, and in her rage she cu rned the moon saying, " Wicked moon, not to come forth, and shine." This conduct of Rona s dupleased the moon rery much, who at once came down to the •sitb, and sciied her. Rona, in her turn,s«iied a tree, which grew near Iho margin of the stream; but the moon tore up the tree by the roots, and flying away car. ried off Rona and her calabash, together with the tree. Rona's friends thinking that she was making a long stay went in quest of her. After searching for aome time, they called out, " Rona, Rons, where are you 1" 4i Here am I," said she, mounting aloft with the moon and the atari,'