ADVENTURES AT PARIHAKA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 128, 29 May 1880, Page 4

ADVENTURES AT PARIHAKA.

. £ yoncluded. f rcm the " Auckland Star "] We" lefY the; gallant; Captain in the orn>3 of tbe virtuous Morpheus, in the retirement of his wharf. Having slept the Bleep of the jaat, the eaptuin was up/vwith rosy morn, es the first rays of Sol vpere/dispelling the mists that hung over "the settlement, and having parformed his ablutions in an adjacpnt creak prepared himself for renewing the controversial encounter with the redbntable seer of Paribaka. Haviog partaken of breakfast, the Captain went fortbjllke a giant refreshed. He found the prophet, as on the previous day, in the mi<|Bt of the wise men of Pariheka Te Whiti, who was attired in his toga obesa (Anglice, blanket) re-opened the dise'ufssiotf by asking : From whom do you think the Maoris are descender?, if cot from the Hebrews ? The Captain : On the day when the British fenny entered Cabul one of the priests requested the- British commander, to. receive . him as, the reprefientative,rOj|'tlVLost,Tribes of Israel. InvesVigatio'n showed that there is an Afghan tribe which is desceoded directly from Keturab, a bond-woman of Abraham.; The records which this people have preserved of their early history show, that they were wrecked on the coast of India, and tbat they have since inhabited parts of the East under the name of Ben Israel. It is very likely, continued the Captain, that you a;e descended from that, es the 'Malay race, from which etock the Maoris originally sprung, as ehown by Max Muller, Grimm, Da Vaux, Taylor, Maumei), and other emiuant philologists and ethnologists who have investigated the subject. The Captain quoted from memory Beveral sentences from tLese learned authors, to the great surprise of the prophet, ned bis disciples j who expressed their wonder by a murmur of admiration. Am I hot a Man and a Brother ? Te Whiti : Then you are my elder brother; I have traced the descent of the Maoris from India, end there is no doubt of our relationship. • The identification of the long-loet relative, after so many weary yeais of separation, was exceedingly gratifying to the feelings of ihe captain, but he subdued his emotions, and by a supreme (ffort of will, which was further strengthened by a glance at the pioi pbet'e blanket and a lively perception •of the odours which the morning brecza bore to his olfactory organs, the Captain resisted the impulse to fall on Te Whiti's bosom and weep fraternal tears of joy. The Captain, however, hes had the gratification of learning since the interview, through Mr Thompson, interpreter to the forces, that Te Whiti has adoped the Ben-

Israel theory, though probably he has not fully considered the doubt which the identification of the Maoris es BanIsraelites would throw upon their claim to be regarded ao legitimate decendaots of Father Abraham. Te Wbiti : I see in the Bible certain propbecieß which are realised in the Maoris. The Captain : But when you read your Bible you read it blindly, I, the European, introduced that Bible among you. Is it for the pupil to turn round upon his teacher and benefactor, and claim superior knowledge ? Te Whiti : We are not blind. The Captain's Optical Delusion. The ingenious Captain now betbought him of an ingenious expedient, which he had often used in days of yore, to confound persons wbose vanity led them to claim perfect eyesight. Taking a piece of paper the Captain sec»etly cut out two elliptical figures of exactly the same size, ani placing them on the ground before Te Whiti asked him to select the largest. The, prophet, misled by the delusive laws of perspective, immediately pounced upon the piece nearest to him as the largest, whereupon the captain applied them to each other, after the manner of the fourth proposition in the first Book of Euclid upon which so many sucking mathematicians have coma to untimely grief, showing that they exacfly corresponded in eizs. Te Whiti smiled a sickly smile at his discomfiture, and the wise men of Parihuka, by the admiring gcze which they cast upon the Captain evidently regarded him as a tohunga of great mana. That is only a trick, said the prophet. The Captain : But that illustrates the cocdition of your mental perception, when you first rcai the Bible: and received Christianity from üb. Not content, however, with this exhibition of his ski!], the Captain deftly performed a number of sleight-o'-hand tricke, causing a shilling to disappear from before the eyes of the astonished prepbef, and to nestle in the hoary! locks of his hair. This and other; tricks, a la Haeelmeyer, elicited many: ejaculations of astonishment. Te Whiti evinced signs of uneasiness, while many; of the younger members of the tribe began v mioute investigation of one another's wool, in the hope of being rewarded by the discovery of something more profitable than is usually found therein. Having thus established the superior skill of the pakaha, the Captain continued : Ido these things in order to prove to jou that you are not so clever as we Europeans, and that there are many things that you have yet to learn from us. You assert that you are inspired, and therefore you are worshipped here

as a semi go^, but I also em equally inspired, and I tsll you that you must descend from your lofty psdiatal and Bit at lie feet of Gamaliel. The Captain's object was to destroy the prophet's tnana, and to divest the minds of the natives of their belief in the supernatural powers claimed by Te Whiti, whom he regards as by to means under the influence of faraticism but a desire to increase his personal rule. Tohu, the fighting man of Parihaka, was somewhat annoyed at the sacrilegious way in which Te Whiti bad been treated, ond endeavored to persuade the Prophet that the Captain was a policieal spy who ought to be turned away from the setilement, but Te Whiti silenced him and claimed protection for the visitor bb his gueß\ Mot her Shipton Floors Te Whiti. Te Wbiti resumed the korero by asking "How long is it eiuce Miti (.Smith) discovered tbo lesrons of that Pyramid?" The Captain: Many years ago. Te Whiti: I have prophesied about theyear 1881 for the last 50 years. The Captain: Oh, that is nothing. Mother Shipton prophesied thalr 400' years ago. \ „ ■ Here the prophet manifested- considerable interest- in Mother Shipton. and rf qaested full particulars of i.hat ancient wahine. Ilia wiahes having bepn compiled with, he remarked : Yes, you Pakehas are superior to the Maoris in many respects, but I have alwayskaown that 1881 would bo an important year ia the world's history. Having established himself en rapport with the prophet, the Captain tried to improve the occasion, and launched out with his well-known eloquence on the manifold ' blessings of life insurance, unfolding the mysteries of tables, A. B. and C, and expatiating with that singular aptitude which comes of long practice, on the calm resignation with which a man takes leave of this mundane sphere in the consciousness that his helpless wife and youthful progeny will be thereafter sheltered from the cold charity of the world. The pathetic eloquence with which the Captain dwelt on this view of the subject sensibly affected his audience, mauy of the elderly wahines were k* ard to bless him between their sobs, and when be concluded his peroration and paused for breath, there was scarcely a' dry eye in the assemblage. Even Te Whiti rafted the corner of his shirt to wipe away a tear, and in broken accents faltered out an excuse, for resisting the appeal by a reference to his age, and the near "approach of the end of all things. He, however, recommended Tohu to accept the boon. Tobu was about to fill up a proposal form, when it occurred to the ready mind of the ■Captain that, the fighting chief's prospects of longevity r were .exceedingly small, and, therefore, lie intimated with his habitual politeness that the risk was not acceptable. In bidding a fond adieu to the Cap tain, Te Whiti said : " I hope you will, whenever the spirit moves you, re-visit Parihaka, and renew our conversation on the GriaJ Pyramid.** Always with an eje to business, the Captain, before leaving, carefully posted iv conspicuous places a number of highlycoloured placards of the Mutual Life Insurance Association of Australia, placing one of the most ornate and attractive right over the couch of Te Whiti. When the Captain turned in the saddle to take a last fond look of Parihaka he descried in the distance, a number of grey old patriarchs intently engaged in searching each other's heads, no doubt in the hope of discovering shillings, little knots were gathered round the gorgeous placards, the boys wore building pyrmids in the sand, and others blowing calabashes after the manner of the ancient priests who blew the' rams' horns before the walls of Jericho (not Jerusalem as printed in Tuesday's issue by a typographical sinner whose knowledge of Scripture has jbeen sadly neglected, and for which mistake— the misprint, not the educational omission— we owe the Captain an apology.) Here ends the story of his adventures, and in taking our leave of the subject, we may congratulate the gallant ad; venturer on the triumph he scored over the redoubtable prophet.. Evidently the Captain is the coming Native Minister. Meantime he is preparing a supply of books and pamphlets on "The Pyramids," " Anglo-Israelism," and last, but not least, "Life Insurance," for the enlightement of the Parihaka natives.