REMARKABLE ROCK PAINTINGS AT WEKA PASS AND OPIHI.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5027, 4 May 1877, Page 3

REMARKABLE ROCK PAINTINGS AT WEKA PASS AND OPIHI.

In the course of an address to the Cauterbury Philosophical Society by Dr. Von Haast, the following occurred : " About a year ago Mr. Alexander Lean informed me of the existence of these paintings, which are situated on an educational reserve about one mile on the western side of the Weka Pass road, and not far from the last rise from which that picturesque road descends into the Waikari Flat. Shortly afterwards, in company with Mr. H. Mcllraith, I visited them, and I need scarcely observe that I was very much struck with their peculiar character and their state of partial preservation, from which their age could be inferred. The so-called cave, which is, however, only a rockshelter, is washed out of a vertical wall of rock, lining a small valley for about 300 ft. on its right or southern side. It has a length of 65ft., and is situated along the western or upper portion of the rock. The valley itself 13 now perfectly dry, but must, in post ■pleiocene times, have had a not inconsiderable volume of water flowing through it. The rock consists of the well-known calcareous Weka Pass sandstone, and the roof of the shelter is formed by the natural dip of the upper bed, having an inclination of about 9deg. to the south. The rock-shelter is, when standing near the foot of the rock below it, which latter has for about sft. to 6ft. a backwards slope, about Bft. high, rising to about 12ft. at the outer edge. " The average depth is 12ft., and, offering from its aspect a splendid shelter from southerly weather, it forms a most favorable locality for camping. The two sections which I have the honor to submit to you willmake you acquainted with the physical features of the locality. The whole length of the rock below the shelter has been used for painting, and it is evident that some order has been followed in the arrangement of the subjects and figures. The paintings are done with a bold hand ; they are well finished, and show clearly that they are the work of an artist of times long gone by, who was no novice in his profession. The paint consists of Kokowa (red oxyde of iron), of which the present aborigines of New Zealand make still extensive use, and some fatty substance, such as fish-oil, or perhaps some oily bird fat. It has been well fixed upon the somewhat porous rock, and no amount. of rubbing will bring it off. It is evident, however, that the existing paintings, which are already partly destroyed by the scaling off of the rock through the influence of frost and other physical agencies causing weathering, are not the first which were delineated on this rock, because in many spots, and sometimes below the paintings under consideration, faint traces of still older ones are visible. These were also painted in red, but I was not able to distinguish any outlines. " Thus we have another proof, if it were needed, of the vast period of time during which New Zealand has been inhabited by man.

" As before observed the principal paintings are all in red, belonging all to one periad, but round and above them appears a mass of others in black, of which some of the best and clearest have also been copied by Mr. Cousins. They are of a more primitive nature, and seem to have been done by a different race of men. That they are not contemporaneous with the red ones could be easily ascertained by observing that they pass not only indiscriminately over them, but that many of them were only painted after the rock had already scaled off Under the red ones, so that they are sometimes painted upon the newly exposed fresh surface. They are all most probably painted with charcoal mixed with some oily animal substance, and are also well fixed upon the rock, but they are generally Dot so well defined, and, moreover, cross each other constantly, so that it is very difficult to distinguish many of them clearly. " Mr, Cousins has, therefore, only copied a few of the figures, which were the most conspicuous and well defined, mostly situate near and on the roof of the rock-shelter.

" Before giving a description of these paintings, I wish to refer to the native traditions about them, as this will give us perhaps a clue to their origin. It has generally been supposed that such paintings were the work of the Ngatimamoe (see vol. I.' Transactions New Zealand Institute,' page 18, where several paintings, but of a somewhat different character, are figured); but the Rev. James Stack informs me that even a greater age is assigned to them. From a conversation which that gentleman had with Matiaha Tira Morehu, the Maori chief of Moeraki, and the best living authority on Maori traditions in the South Island, it appears that these paintings are attributed to the Ngapuhi, the oldest inhabitants of this island of which there are any tradition?. In fact, the Ngapuhi are a somewhat mythical people, to whom, besides these drawings, the destruction of the moa, or anything the origin of which is unknown, is always attributed. I may here observe that Matiaha is one of the authorities for the statement that the moa has been extinct in very ancient times, and that there is a total absence of reliable traditions about them amongst the Maoris, which tallies perfectly with the geological evidence lately brought forward. Besides the extinction of, the moa and the red paintings, Matiaha also attributes to them the heaps of pipi shells (Mesodesma Novse Zealandiaj) which are found far back in the mountain ranges, and which were carried to such a distance by this people, who, according to the aged Maori chief, were great travellers. I have much pleasure in adding, in Appendix No. 1„ a fuller account of their ancient traditions from the pen of Mr. Stack. "In my papers on the Summer Cave (' Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,' Vol. VII) I have alluded to that question more fully.

"It has been ascertained that there are several caves and rock-shelters in this island in which paintings of similar character are preserved on the walls, of which, as before observed, those of the Takiroa rock-shelter near the Waitaki were published in Vol. 1., page 18, of our 'Transactions,' but none of the paintings are like those from the Weka Pass, except, perhaps, the sparks rising from the figure in the right-hand corner. Moreover, one of the drawings is a scroll wosk, and thus approaches the designs of the Maoris of the past few centuries. There are others at the Opihi, at the Levels, Tengawai, and at Pareora, and, as I have just been informed, in some other places in the Weka Pass ranges, and doubtless in many other localities. It would be of the highest interest to have these carefully copied, as, no doubt, they will throw considerable light upon the history of the ancient inhabitants of-this island.

"My friend, the Eev. James Stack, has given me a copy of a drawing from a rockshelter near the Opihi River, painted in black, which differs considerably from the Weka Pass paintings, and, as it appears to me, approaches more the designs of the Maoris. I add the same, with Mr. Stack's note, as Appendix 2. " In examining the paintings under review, it is evident at a first glance that they are quite distinct from those of the Maoris, which always consist of curved lines and scroll-work, although in former days the traveller would occasionally see on posts or smooth rocks, rude representations of men, ships, canoes, and animals drawn by Maori children, but they were always of an ephemeral character, Maori artists confining themselves to the drawing of scrolls, and then always in permanent colors. In looking at the ensemble of these rock paintings, it is clear that there is some method in the arrangement which at once strikes the eye as remarkable. Some of the principal objects evidently belong to the animal kingdom, and represent animals which either do not occur in New Zealand, or are only of a mythical and fabulous character. Some of them can easily be recognised; the meaning of others can only he conjectured. The group in the centre is of a different character, which is difficult to explain, unless we assume that it represents implements and portions of dress of a semicivilised people.. Only two representations of man can be recognised, but they are full of movement and evidently in the act of running away, whilst the figure of the bird is very suggestive. Below these principalgroups we find several smaller figures or signs, the meaning of whichforalongtimeconsiderablypuzzled me. I

was inclined to believe that they might be a kind of hieroglyphic writing; but unfortunately there were too few of them, ve thought, worth copying, the greater portion having much faded or broken away. Some of those which were too faint occurred at 9, 3<V and 46 feet from the left-hand side. They were sometimes close to the floor of the rockshelter, but did not go below it, which is o£ some importance to prove that the kitchen. middens which had here accumulated were either foiming or had already been formed, when the paintings were executed. The thought struck me at last that these smaller figures resembled the letters of some Oriental languages, and that I had seen somewhat similar characters published in our ' Transactions.' The Tamil inseription round the antique bronze bell, how in the possession oE the Kev. W. Colenso, in Napier, at once suggested itself to me, and in comparing the peculiar figures with thy writing on that belL, as given in itr. J. T. Thomson's interestingpaper " Whence the Maoris " iu vol. iv. of the ' Transactions of the New Zealand Institute/ I was at once struck by the marked resemblance between both. It would be a most curious coincidence, and difficult to imagine, that the ancient inhabitants of this island should adopt similar figures, and place them„ as it were, below the representations of animals, some of foreign countries or scenes of life, without any meaning; or should we assume, as the bell with the Tamil inscription was found in New Zealand, so other objects: were secured from the same or another similarwreck, amongst which pictures ef animals and adventures of human life, with writing below them, were obtained, and which afterwards were copied after a fashion by the Autochthones of New Zealand? Or might I even suggest that one or more of the wrecked mariners of Indian origin were saved, and that they accompanied as slaves the ancient inhabitants of this island on their during which these paintings were executed by them 1 " These ancient works of primitive art,, as of considerable historic value, are therefore invested with still greater interest, and I have no doubt that further research will make us acquainted with more of these remarkable relics of the past. I may here observe, that as far back as 1862 I met with paintings of similar character, and in a splendid state of preservation, during my geological surveys in theSouth, but which I then passed over,lmaginingthat they were probably the work of some shepherd, who had devoted his leisure horns to the execution of these strange figures and characters with the ■ red paint with which. sheep are usually branded. I was then, to> speak in colonial language, comparatively » new chum, bat I may console myself with the fact that many of our intelligent settlers have looked at them quite in the same light. However, I shall not fail to collect all the material. as soon as I can find the time, and hope that the settlers in limestone country will kindly inform me where such paintings are still existing. As before observed, the paintings under review occur over a face of about 65ft, and the upper end of some reaches Bft. above the floor; the average height, however, being 4ft. to sft. They are all of considerable size, most of them measuring several feet, and even one of them having a. length of 15ft.

" Beginning at the eastern end, we find, in the left-hand corner the representative (No~l) of what might be taken for a sperm whale, with its mouth wide open, diving downward*. Thi3 figure is 3ft. long. Five feet from, it is another figure (No. 3) which might also represent a whale or some fabulous two-headed marine monster. This painting is 3ft. 4in. long. Below it, a little to the left in No. 4, we have the Bwollen head and long protruding tongue. This figure is nearly 3ft. long, and shows numerous windings. It ia difficult to conceive how the natives, in a country without snakes, could not only have traditions about them, but actually be able to picture them, without they had received amongst them immigrants from tropical countries who had landed on the coasts of New Zealand from some cause* or another. You are well aware that already on the second vioit of Captain Cook, Tawaihura, a native chief of Queen Charlotte Sound, gave an account of enormous snakes and lizards, to him, and drew a representation of both animals so distinctly that they could not be mistaken, but hitherto the researches of naturalists for so many years have failed to reveal their existence in these isfands. Between the tw» fishes, or whales, we have No. 2, which might represent a fishhook, and below the snake,. No. 5, a sword with a curved blade, whilst No. 5 in the same line is one of those remarkable signs or letters. Advancing towards the right, , we reach a group whieh is of special interest to us, the figure, No. 9, which is nearly a foot long, having all the appearance of. a long necked bird, carrying the head as the cassowary and emu do, and as the moa has done. If this figure does not represent a moa, it might be a reminiscence , by tradition of the cassowary. The figure is, unfortunately, not complete, as only the portion of one leg has been preserved. The forked tail is, however, unnatural, and if this design should represent the moa, I might suggest that it was either a conventional way of drawing that bird, or that it was already extinct when. this representation was painted according; to tradition; in which latter case No. 11 might represent the taniwha or gigantic fabulous lizard which is said to have watched the moa. No. 8 is doubtless a quadruped, probably a dog-, which, as my researches have shown, was a contemporary of the moa, and was used also, as food by the moa hunters. No. 10 is evidently a weapon, probably an adze or tomahawk, and might, being close to the supposed bird, indicate the manner in which the latter was killed during the chase. Th» post with the two> branches near the top (No. 12) finds a counterpart in the remnant of a similar figure not numbered between the figures Nos. 3 and 9. They might represent some of the means by which the moa was caught, or indicate that it existed in open country between the forest. No. 13, under which the rock in the central portion has scaled off, is, like No. 6, one of the designs which resembles ancient oriental writing. Approaching the middle portion of the wall, we find here a well arranged group of paintings, the centre of which has all the appearance of a hat ornamented on the crown. The rim of this broad-brimmed relique measures) 2ft. across. The expert of ancient customs and habits of the Malayan and South Indian countries might perhaps be able to throw some light upon this and the surrounding figures, Nos. 15 and 18, to which I can offer no palpable suggestion. From No. 17, which, fa altogether 3ft. high, evidently issues fire or smoke ; it therefore might represent a tree on fire, a lamp, or an altar with incense offering; If we compare thiH peculiar appearance with . one of the figures on the copy of the Takiroa cave paintings, "we find that it has the same characteristic feature. The figure No. 15 is particularly well painted, and the outlines are clearly defined, but I can make no suggestion as to its meaning. In No. 19 we have doubtless the picture of a human being, who- is running away from No. 17, the object, from. the top of which issues fire or smoke, and I need scarcely point out to you that this small figure is full of life, and that it is entirely different from the conventional representation of the human figure in the paintings and carvings of the Maoris."